Good evening!
Well, I didn't get anything extra done this past week on the P&P project--just laundry, dishwasher, trash...the regular survival stuff--lol! My hours were even more crazy this past week, so Leah suggested we not start on the kitchen and pantry--wait till this week because I had my bone scan on Friday. So, I agreed.
Good thing I did because I was up for 38 hours (Tuesday and Wednesday) and then slept for almost 14 hours. Scared the heck out of Allie. She cried and cried--even jumped up on the foot of the chair and stood there staring and crying for a brief few moments...on the dreaded blanket! You may remember Allie will not step on the blankets when I have one on me at night...absolutely will not come up and sleep with me. Her cry was something I had never heard from her before...scared and very upset...panic! She was sooo relieved when I woke up!
That only confirmed my gut feeling that she lived with someone who got very sick and either died at home or was taken from the home to the hospital and didn't come back maybe. She's always followed me around when I don't feel well and am in the bathroom often...every time she follows me. But not necessarily when I am feeling fine. She talks to me and wants reassurance and petting. All we know is she used to live with another cat and the two of them were dumped at the pound--no information at all on them and when she got rescued by Cat's Cradle the other cat wasn't with her. They had no name or age or anything at all on her.
Well, I think she thought I was very sick or dead. No lie! She's been extra clingy the past few days. Not that she will step on a blanket to sleep with me, though. Heaven forbid! At least she seems less stressed over the furniture being gone now that there is more stuff in the hallway and in the bedroom. She hasn't paced through those areas crying since I kind of filled them up a bit--lol! But whatever she and her companion went through was very traumatic for her and she apparently still remembers it very well. I wish I could tell her things are going to be fine and she will love living with even more people and another cat, too. (We hope they accept each other.) Leah and I were talking about it and we think she will be very happy over there. Allie loves company when anyone comes over. If the boys are too active and loud she goes off to steer clear of them, and she will still be able to do that. There will be two floors above us. Lots of places to hide if she wants peace and quiet...and my place will usually be the quietest. ;) She is quite the character. A former spoiled diva who went through a traumatic time...but still loves people...if they don't try to pick her up--or get too loud--lol!
Anyways, then I only got about 5 hours of sleep before my bone scan on Friday. Leah and the boys picked me up. They came in to wait for me while I had it done. Leah has a couple of our old phones for the boys and they each have games she has put on their phones for them--many are educational games. But they only get their phones when they are traveling in the car on a trip or in a waiting room or in some situation like that. Therefore, they are excited to have that time to play on their phones and are good as gold lost in those phones the whole time. If they had them available all the time they would lose interest pretty quickly, I think. They only have games on them...aren't on the internet or anything. Very smart, I think. I am impressed. :)
Anyways, the bone scan would be a breeze if you have no problem lying flat on your back on a hard table. The scan itself was no big deal and the lady chatted with me the whole time. You have to lie really still, but she was chatty--and I was glad because it was quite painful to be honest. In all the other scans I have had I got to have a pillow under my knees to alleviate some of the pain level. (I was painfully reminded there's a reason I haven't been able to sleep in a bed for 6 or 7 years and have to sleep in my chair.) But the scan itself was easiest of all--no IV--just wear the right clothes--and it only takes seven minutes the lady told me. Getting off the table--I had to have help and had to work up to actually getting off--but was better after I did some forward bending and then walking.
I haven't gotten the results yet, but I'll probably find out this week. It's the least of my problems so I am not concerned one way or the other--LOL! ;)
How do you like this shower curtain?
Whoohoo!!
The throne view is quite striking!
The boys were so impressed! Ian said how it changed the whole room...so Leah asked them if they would like a shower curtain like that. Yes!! She asked me to send her the link. I said--no--we can share them. But they couldn't have this one right now because I had just put it up and needed to enjoy it for a few days. They picked the tie die one to bring home with them. Leah informed me that she would only like to change them like many months apart. She is obviously not into switching shower curtains. (But once I live there I can do it for them.)
I did switch again a couple days ago. ;) With the new ones I just want to see them up so I don't last very long. I still have two left to arrive. Even got a couple on Prime Days, too--but they have come already. In fact, this one might have been one of the Prime sale ones. Pretty.
Allie really likes these cheaper, thinner curtains because she can get behind them much easier while I am in the shower--lol! She's a water-licker cat. Can hardly wait until I get out so she can jump in! Has soaked her whole front half with her impatience more than once--LOL!
Oh, on Tuesday!
Okay--K&Krafts is our favorite craft store for cardmaking supplies. It is privately owned, and I was soooo impressed that she and her husband managed to keep it running over the pandemic. She didn't have a website or anything, but she started being really active on Facebook and they set up live classes and demos on Facebook like she had in the store before lockdown. They sold items by phone and people picked up packages at their back door behind the mall. There are a lot of loyal customers of Kay's.
When I first moved up here in 1999 to go to college I lived in Moorhead and could walk over to that mall a few blocks away. I remember when Kay bought this craft store and completely revamped it. Can't even remember the old name of it now after 21 years. It was so jammed, cramped, dark and dusty. Kay cmpletely redid it--made it open and bright and clean and modern. I was a cardmaker so I had been wandering through the old store--but whoohoo! Kay even added a back room for classes and had all the latest new goodies for cardmakers and scrapbookers. I went to the evening cardmaking classes regularly. I was a very regular, frequent customer until I moved across the river to Fargo in West Winds back in 2004. But I have always gone back--Leah, too. Just much less often.
Anyways, after all the hard work they did to keep afloat during the pandemic, I got her store email...here the Moorhead Center Mall itself is closing down! So, they had a choice--find another spot for the store or retire. They chose to retire. Tuesday was the first day of their going-out-of-business sale. I let Leah know and she said we had a filled punch tag (they're worth $15) and would I like her to stop over there and use the tag and let them know how much we will miss the store. Of course!
Leah and Ian and Liam were shopping for a long time!
Leah would send me pictures of items and I would say yes or no. (I will pay her back in August.) This is how we have shopped for years now with me not being able to spend hours on my feet anymore. Texts and text photos. :)
Rubber stamps--like the big box full I donated--are not popular any more since they came out with the clear stamps that take up so much less room to store. This was the total of what was left at the store!
The line for the register was long!
Many texts back and forth--choices made--bought some things I would never have gotten at full price. After a couple of hours I didn't hear anything from her anymore...until two hours later. Much to my surprise, they were just in line to leave!! Four hours they were there!! Those boys were really good she said. Liam was exhausted he slept on Mama's shoulder for quite a long while, Leah said. She was sore. LOL!
Are you ready for the haul? Non-crafters won't care at all and can scroll down...but it turned out Leah bought a bunch of stamps and dies, too! She said she bought me this first one--put it on her bill. A set I would never have purchased for full price--$44! Half price was much more reasonable, but still a lot. I have looked at these stamp and die sets but never bought one.
You get the dies to go with them.
Another expensive wishlist item (even bought some blender brushes before covid) but had not taken the plunge yet...stencil sets!
One with stencils and stamps--and one with stencils and dies!
How exciting to be able to try new techniques with all of those!
And this Christmas tree die cut had a Scandinavian flare, don't you think? No picture on the other side of what it looks like cut out, though. Some companies are dumb that way. I hope it looks good, says this Swede.
Then this is a smaller die and stamp set...
...you can use two ways for Christmas cards.
I wanted some bigger word dies you could use on the front of a card if she could find any...and she did! I got the Hello Bootiful just for the large Hello. (I don't make Halloween cards.) And--no--they didn't show what it looked like cut out on the other side of the package, either. Hate when they do that, but I took a chance on the both of them.
Then Leah's haul!
Several dies--even Christmas and birthday ones! We do love our snowflakes. :)
Stamp sets--monsters and party. In fact, the monsters might have dies to go with them. Yup! I just looked--has monster dies, too.
Christmas ornaments--a stamp and...
...die set!
What a haul!!! You know where most of my money is going in August--lol! I'm glad I ordered Liam's birthday present early (September 3rd)! But--sad as is the why--it is exciting to have new sets to play with that I would not have gotten otherwise. Leah did the same--lol!
Well, I haven't even filled my new automatic soap dispensers yet. Only because it involves a stool and climbing up to get to my batteries--LOL! Oh, and they work just like the soap dispensers in public places where you just put your hand underneath and the soap comes out--no touching, no pumping. Nice!
Allie's new collar came.
Can't really get a good shot with her thick fur, but I don't want my telephone number posted online, anyways. It looks like this--with a metal engraved tag on it with her name and my number.
I know--I went with such a conservative color! Shock! But I thought this whiskey color went so well with her coloring.
Let me think--that is about it for this last week. My hours are still crazy off. Slept from 6:45 -10:30pm on Friday after the scan. Then didn't sleep again till 7:30am on Saturday morning--but slept till 5:15pm!! Been up ever since early Saturday evening. [No wonder Allie has been so clingy. She wonders what is wrong with me--and even if I spoke cat, I couldn't even tell her--lol!] That is why I am writing this on Sunday. I've been up over 24 hours again--if I hardly sleep I will be too tired to think--or I could sleep like 10-14 hours when I finally do fall asleep (not tired right now) and I hate to post late in the day. In other words--no clue as to what my nite-nite-future holds so I will post early to be on the safe side. But my normal day is still Monday. ;)
Right now--I just finished putting clothes away from doing laundry earlier; one of my two folding tables arrived early while we were chatting (other one still says August 1st-how odd)--should unbox to see what it looks like; and I need to get outside to do dead heads and water the planters. That ought to make me tired. It's 87 degrees out there...but it's supposed to be in the 90s the next four days and near 100 on Wednesday--so today is the coolest day and the flowers certainly don't want to wait any longer.
I hope to have my hours get back to more normal so I can get some P&P stuff done this coming week. I have Keanna coming on Tuesday. Maybe Leah one evening for kitchen/pantry. No appointments!! Just 90s and AC for me--LOL! Have a really good week and stay cool or warm as the case may be where you live. Till next week...keep smiling!! :) :)
17 comments:
Excellent craft haul! I love a good craft sale, but then I get so weird about making sure I use it all, which leads to more projects.
Love the shower curtains!
Alaska is having horrible separation anxiety from the husband as her illnesses progress. He went to see his BIL at 330 am to take sunrise photos and she was up for an hour pacing because he hadn't come back in yet. *sigh* She's still herself, but struggling. It's tough when they can't tell us what they need.
Hi Rita. I hope you can get more regular hours next week. You got some great bargains from the craft store whose owners are retiring. Fun stuff. I love all those cute and colorful shower curtains. Have a good week. See you again soon!
I'm not a crafter, as you know, but I still think the items you and Leah got are great. Sweet little Liam was so adorable sleeping on Mama's shoulder. It's great that the boys play games on the phones only at certain times. I don't think it's good for kids to have their noses stuck on cell phones or other screens all the time, and you're right, if they had it all the time, it wouldn't be special and they'd lose interest. Poor little Allie, crying and worrying. She really must remember a traumatic experience. Her collar is pretty. That's another great shower curtain. The boys will like it when you're in the house with them and can do special little things for them like changing shower curtains. I've had messed up sleep times like yours in the past. Sometimes I would think I'd never get to sleep. Being awake such a long time is very uncomfortable and it's such a relief to finally fall asleep. I would be miserable flat on my back, too. Glad you had a chatty person to help distract you.
Love,
Janie
I always enjoyed Kays, she was on my bowling league years and years ago when we lived in Moorhead back in the late 1970's. Then she expanded and went into business with her daughter I think...and now it is the daughter that is retiring. I heard the whole Mall is being torn down...hard to believe that. My girls always liked to go there to Maurices and they got their hair cut at the salon where Russ worked.
Stay cool the warm weather and smoke is here.
Makes me wish we didn’t have enclosed showers so I could go back to shower curtains! It’s been so long I don’t remember ours, but I am pretty sure they were neutral. I bet today I could find nature themes. Showering with elephants would be fun!
What a haul indeed! Sad to see that the store is closing but it sounds like they had a good and successful run. Love the fact that you change out your shower curtains, I have never heard of that before!
What great shopping finds, Rita, and the new shower curtains were my favorite ones. Sharing with Leah is a good plan as you can only use one at a time, anyway. Now, I am thinking that I should look for another one as we’ve had the same fabric striped one for several years😉Your craft haul looks like the holidays will be fun and creative for you, but too bad a favorite place is closing. Your thoughts on why Allie had such panic attacks may be right and hope the new living space will be helpful in relieving any future ones.
Cats are weird. Ours won’t get on the chair with me when I am sleeping at night, but she will at other times, maybe even at afternoon nap time.
There always seems a bloody lot to do even when there is little to do
Allie being scared isn't good poor little thing, some people do not believe that animals have long memories or such emotions which is silly of course they do, only time will tell how she will cope with the changers.
I like the first shower curtain best, you found some nice craft stuff
Poor Allie. Whatever she went through will be with her for her whole life. And I too love that splashy shower curtain. Although I don't craft, I sure enjoyed seeing all those wonderful finds. Our mall hasn't closed, but it is only 50% occupied these days, so it probably will close, too. Hope the scan turns out well, friend. Fingers crossed! :-)
OMG, I know that struggle. I get sleeping problems a lot that I think I can write about it now. Poor Allie. I love those colorful curtains.
I wish you and Leah could have come to my yard sale -- I was practically giving my rubber stamps away. (Still am -- just send postage!). Dear Allie. I suspect your sense of her past is spot on and she has retained it. I love that she is so dear and close to you and worried. I suspect she may never have been loved so much as you. Cats really are odd in that way. Lizzie has a sense, too. And Gypsy always did.
You are so lucky to have Leah. She sounds amazing and I love that you'll be sharing the shower curtains! That's a pretty one!
I may actually be ready to start reading blogs and publishing posts :) Poor Allie! I can feel her panic from your description. I love love love that first shower curtain. I think it'd make a great window curtain.
I look forward to hearing your bone scan results. I trust it went well.
I feel for Allie. When I got Squiggles, he refused to leave his sandbox for days on end. I think he had been mistreated when he was at the home the Humane Society uses until kittens and puppies are old enough to go to the Humane Society. I know there are great first homes, but I don't think he got one. He finally came out of his shell, but still refuses to be around anyone. He hides when someone comes over and he is so needy at times he won't leave my side. And he wasn't even six weeks old at the time. I can see how Allie must have a similar traumatic experience.
LOVE that first shower curtain. A burst of paint.
You got a HUGE haul of craft goodies. You are SO lucky. Too bad the mall is being torn down, but they seem to have lost their appeal they had in the 80s and early 90s. Ours are struggling, too. They have lost their largest shops and the food court is nearly non-existent.
Hope your bone scan comes back to your satisfaction.
Poor Allie.
That is a great fun shower curtain.
Poor Allie, I have not heard of a cat acting like that before and it must indeed be a trauma that is making her act like that. Maybe some unhappy experience with a blanket too. People always say that cats dont get attached to people but I don't think that is true. I guess someone died and she was dumped in the cat pound. She sounds like quite a smart cat and I think she'll be happy in her new home too.
Those craft supplies are something else. It looks like a huge shop, although most things in the US look huge to us here in Britain!
Great blog
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