August 28, 2023 Monday--3am

 Greetings!  

Another week has flown by.  First, I have to say that I have no clue why Blogger jumps back and forth on the size of my fonts when I post.  I even preview before I post and all the font is the same size.  I am not shouting at you--honest!  Oh Blogger, how you do enjoy vexing me.

My shower curtain for this week.  Darkest one I bought, but still colorful and dramatic.  

Keanna came on Tuesday to clean.  I worked in the studio off and on all week.  Actually began packing up things I could part with for several months. 

Started working on reorganizing the wider set of drawers under the die cutting table.  I knew I had the bottom three drawers I could pack, but was surprised I emptied four of them.  Decided to pack away the Chinese Brush Painting supplies, too.

Slowly adding boxes to the bedroom.

The top two drawers were a mess...so they needed to be sorted.  Thought it would be a good idea to keep most all of the coloring type of supplies in this chest of drawers.

So what I would do is work for a while until my body complained enough, take a break for a good while, and repeat off and on every day.  

I have to tell you about this coincidence that just blew my mind.  Makes me chuckle every time I think of it.

Okay--since I started tearing things apart over here I had been trying to find my T-ball jotter pen I bought in high school.  I would never throw it out.  Couldn't imagine where it could be as I had scoured all the pen places, right?  (I had a red one and a blue one--lent one out that never got returned but couldn't remember which one.)  Anyways, I had found a zip lock bag with a bunch of pens labeled "refill" from months ago, so I knew I needed to reorganize the bottom two drawers in the smaller, taller drawer unit by the door where my pen supplies ended up.  I planned to do that after I got done with the "color" drawers.  I knew I had a lot of sorting through my refill stash ahead of me.

I needed to go on a break.  Was watching the Goulet Pens Pencast on YouTube.  (I am one of the select few who can listen to two old friends chat about pens for a couple of hours every week--ROFL!)  They are always funny...Brian is the owner and Drew works for him--was his first employee.  They've known each other since grade school, I believe.  Anyways, they were talking about how some follower had heard them on the pencast trying to answer a question about which was the ugliest pen.  Later they had gone to a pen show and this guy came up to Brian and gave him what he believed was the ugliest pen.  Neither he nor Drew had ever heard of this pen or seen one before...build up and laughter...to my surprise it was a Rotring Core fountain pen!

Well, I had one of those wild, weird pens back in the 80s or 90s.  So awkward to hold.  Gave it away.  I haven't thought about the Core for decades.  They don't make them anymore.  I haven't seen one or heard about one--even in the pen world.  Even Brian and Drew had never heard of it or seen one.  Anyways, I decided to take a break from the Pencast--yes, they do usually chat for a couple of hours each week, so I watch it a piece at a time.  It was time to start dragging things out of the top two shelves in the bookcase by the window.  Lots of colors--paint pens, colored pencils, etc, that needing sorting.

  I opened up one of the containers--was so shocked I didn't even get a picture of the mess inside--and what did I see??  My Core!  I never did part with it--LOL!  That huge, top-heavy, orange and grey pen to the left in front is a Rotring Core fountain pen!  What are the odds!!!  I find it right after listening to them talk about it and show it in all its glorious weirdness.  Still can't believe it.  

AND--center front--a red and a blue T-ball jotter!!!  (I had found a couple of refills--above right--that were so old they were dried up--lol!)  The four center top pens were very old broken pens, the box left top was a favorite cheap pen when I was going to college early 2000s, the four pens next to the Core were empty gel pens, the red and green ones and the other three--all bottom right--were all clean and empty fountain pens.  There were also a whole bunch of Pilot G2s--also a real favorite of mine in college, but haven't used really since.  

So, I hadn't seen this container (if it was glanced at in a move I don't remember at all) since I left college in 2004!  Because--it accidentally got mixed in with art supplies and somehow drifted away from the pen supplies.  Oh--and I also found my Mickey Mouse ball point pen with my name engraved on it!  I forgot to get a picture because I moved to a special spot to wait for me to order a refill.  That had been a gift so long ago I don't even remember--could be more like 40-50 years ago!  Just a second--I'll get a picture.

So cute!  Even though I never write with ball points anymore...I am going to order refills for this one!  It had a Cross refill inside, but I don't know if that is who made it because it just says Disney on the gold band.

It used to be gold engraved.  Just looks a dark gray now.  I had to prop it against another pen to keep Mickey from rolling over on to his gloved arm--hehe!

Old treasures...BUT!  I did not know that plastic pens can kind of disintegrate over time.  At least the Pilot G2s were all no good anymore!  They were all sticky and weird.  I tried to wash it off but to no avail.  They ended up in the trash--with the refills that were also too dried up to work anymore.  The liquid ink cartridges for fountain pens will eventually dry out, too--need to go through those, too.

Okay--back to the Rotring Core.  The "ugliest pen", I guess--lol!  It has a huge cap.  Weird wavy designs, four orange ink windows on the barrel...

...and look at the shape of the grip section!!  Reminds me of an old swayback horse.

Well, I had to find a standard ink cartridge to ink this puppy up.  Had to see if it was as weird in the hand as I remembered.  Nope.  Shock!  Not really.  I don't know if it is because I was such an inconsistent FP user up until I ran across Goulet Pens (when they were starting out their company in his garage) and I am better at it or what?  To my amazement--it felt and worked just fine.  (Makes me wonder if I should have given away a Tombow FP to another student in college because I couldn't find the right angle to write with that one--oh well--lol!)  

Of course, I had to write a comment on their Pencast about this find--lol!

That led to me going through the bottom drawers with all the refills and getting them organized and seeing what I needed to order.  (And--confession--I have now grown nostalgic for Pilot G2s and I have none--lol!)

Got those drawers organized, at least.

Continued on with the shelves in that bookcase.

Meanwhile, I finally put out some seed for the birds this week as it is getting chillier at night and fall is in the air...occasionally.  I hadn't put out anything but water all summer, right?  Within half an hour...

...a flock of grackles arrived for a party--to the delight of Miss Allie!!  :)

I've made a lot of progress on the color drawers this week.  From top down...

Watercolors, watercolor pencils, and other colors that need a brush and/or water.

Colored pencils and crayons.

Pastels in different forms, graphites, and a Brusho set that needs to be transferred into tiny salt shakers (maybe this winter?).

All kinds of markers and drawing pens.

Paint pens, pencils, and charcoal drawing stuff--so far.  Not sure if this will all stay in the last two drawers I showed you, but this is as far as I got.

One more empty drawer to fill.  :)

McFamily came home from their fabulous week away in Minneapolis on Saturday.  On Sunday a gentleman and I assume his well-mannered son came to look at the oak barrister bookcase before deciding to buy.  One look and he left to get the money.  The bookcase is gone.  It went to a good home.

Leah brought back the other new folding table the boys borrowed for their lemonade stand.  Looks pretty bare back there now.  Used to be a desk, two barristers, and an open bookcase on that wall.

Leah and I brought out a load of donations to the garage.  We looked around--her BIL wants part of the ValleyCon furniture that is stored on the one side of my garage.  He is talking about coming to pick it up in a couple of weeks.  Leah got pictures of everything that I want to sell that was on top of the old oak table out there in the middle of the garage.  Once we get that table cleared off we can get pictures of it and put that up for sale, too.  I have two bins and a box full of fabric that I want to go through first to see if there's anything I want to save.  Once the table is cleared off can pile all that fabric on the table and check through it--take pics--and sell it in a big batch or maybe two.  

I have the rug from my studio here that we took out so I could get the plastic chair mats to work.  Leah asked me if I might want it for the new studio...it is all rolled up but I remember it being very colorful and wanted to hang on to it.

Then Sunday night I was going through old pictures (everything before 2019 was lost because of an old laptop) to try to find a picture of my bed so people can see what it looked like together and normal--lol!  I did find one!  I also found pictures of the studio rug!  Now wouldn't this be perfect in a room with orange walls!?

My studio has changed since 2019--lol!  This was right before I got my IKEA dressers and die cutting table.  Looks better--albeit messier--now.

Allie would say hi but she's snoozing.

I have a bunch of pictures from Leah...and these are only from Sunday and Monday--visiting with her sister and going to the Children's Museum.

But before they left-- pics of the two shower curtains the boys have borrowed so far!  The rainbow one...

...and the Jackson Pollack one--lol!  I'm glad they are enjoying Gramma's...shall we say quirkiness?

Here's the boys with their younger cousin, Leo.

On their way to the Children's Museum.  Looks like the capitol in Saint Paul off in the distance.

Saint Paul also has walkways like Minneapolis.  Can you see it above the street about in the center of the picture there across the way?  They are the bomb!  Nothing better in a Minnesota winter than a covered, heated walkway over the street!  :)

All the boys outside.

Ian and Liam using magic powers to open the doors--lol!

Very interactive place!  I will just let you observe as I have. :)

Leo is wearing a mask as Ariel got Covid and had it really bad for over six months.  Just trying to be extra cautious...for sure!

This was odd--ghostly figures of Ian, Liam, and some other little boy inside a fish tank?

Aha!  Green screen!  What a hoot!

Ian made his name in lights on this contraption.

It really looks like they had a total blast at the Children's Museum.  I never went with Dagan there--just to the science museum--somebody let us come with them.  

Just asked Google--no wonder--they opened in 1981.  I probably had not heard, had just learned to drive (at 30), was going through a divorce, had zero extra money, and would have been terrified to drive by myself to Saint Paul!  Dagan and I had made trips into downtown Minneapolis on the buses since he was a baby, though. ;)

There will be more pictures of their adventures next week.  I am looking forward to seeing the Rainforest Cafe where I used to take Dagan every time we went to the MegaMall.  Was our favorite restaurant.  At least I hope they made it there.  I forgot to ask her when she was here.  We were quite busy doing things--not really any just chat time.  

My hours have been flipped and all over the place now for such a long time.  Leah reminded me that I haven't been taking melatonin or my CBD oil for a long time.  True.  I forgot all about it.  I hadn't needed it anymore for quite a long time.  Well, possibly I needed it now but just plain forgot about it--lol!  After she left I went and found them and will start taking them both again and see if that helps the situation.  Hope so.  That would be nice!  Meanwhile--as you can tell, I am still awake in the middle of the night.

Been eating and no fasting--have seen some improvement with my throne issues--lol!  So the fasting longer may have been the problem making me go backwards.  I've never had a problem with my fasting before appointments, but I guess fasting for several days doesn't agree with my body still.  

Good lord--I feel like I have a different body these days.  Not the same disabled one I had adapted to for 20 years.  Now it is a new much touchier and more unpredictable unit.  A real drama queen of a body!  Overreacting like crazy to such ordinary things--like a head bump on the kitchen cabinet door.  Making a huge deal over two chemo treatments--wouldn't let me eat or drink basically until I ended up in the hospital--plus giving me neuropathy from waist to toes that lasted almost a year.  Talk about drama and overreactions!  Even immunotherapy ended up with terrible, watery, no-warning diarrhea so I couldn't leave my apartment to even get my mail--for six weeks.  Come on!  Settle down!  Yes, my body has turned into a real drama queen of the highest order.  Clinging to shingles, diarrhea, and mucositis just for peevishness and giggles.  Let it go.  Let it go.  LOL!

In the oddest way it reminds me of being pregnant.  That feeling like it isn't really your body anymore--like you have no control over what your body is doing all on its own.  The loss of control, I guess.  The alien-body sensation.  I already had to deal with this subject--with fibro, ending up housebound, and the whole shebang.  But this new version is a whole 'nother animal.  A whole 'nother level of lack of control.  Since it may stay like this--well, I just have to laugh and adapt, right?

Eventually I laugh and find the humor.  It is always not a good thing if I am not laughing enough, you know?  Well, I am laughing again.  Quite freely.  Life is funny.  Life is sometimes utterly ridiculous.  Life is a crap shoot.  But life is sooo good.  So very good.

Keep laughing.  See you next week. :) :)