September 3, 2023 Sunday--10:45pm

Greetings!  

I have so many pictures this week I am going to divide them and put all the McFamily vacation pics up tomorrow in an extra post.  (Then those of you who aren't interested don't even have to look at that one--lol!)  Gramma wants them for posterity, of course, so I am excited to post them. 

Anyways, it was a busy week.  Oh, first of all, I forgot to say that the t-ball jotters I found are proof of my brain being fibro & cancer foggy (and old).  I know I had thought a few times about buying a replacement for the t-ball that wasn't given back--but I didn't remember that I did do that--around 40 years ago--lol!  There they were--the two of them!  I still can't tell you which one is the oldest--red or blue.  Can't remember--lol!

The dentist cancelled on me.  She lost her hygienist.  Since I have never been to this lady dentist (it's my been-going-to-for-years dentist's daughter, I guess), I asked Leah if she could check and see if their dentist takes new clients in the meantime.  Leery of a dentist with no hygienist, to be honest.

The shower curtain for this last week.  Be a pretty one for spring, I think.

Monday: Leah went to the cabinet makers to pick up the plans!  Then she came over here and I am delighted with them.  

Kitchen: Only difference is I will have a side-by-side frig/freezer.  The space is small so I am getting a single sink so I can fit in the dishwasher and wider drawers on the other side.  The microwave should go over the sink because it is wider and fits there nicely.  Can use the light on the microwave for over the sink, too.  Perfect!  The cabinet over the frig is really deep and covers most of the top of the frig!  Love the extra storage.  I do have tall stools, after all. ;)

The bathroom is missing the drawing of the shower which will be to the right of the toilet--close.  We already have picked out a triple light for over the sink.  Looking good!

The shower is picked out, too.  Will not have the glass door but will have black hardware.  We prefer shower curtains, as you know--LOL!  Glass may look nice, but I am too lazy to be cleaning that all the time, to be honest.  And you know how I love my new shower curtains!!

While she was here Leah took down all the high stuff in the studio for me. :)  Tops of bookcases...

...top shelf in the closet...

...and even took down the ink pad shelf unit.

So--total chaos once again--lol!  

Stuff piled everywhere in the studio...

...and the living room.

As I continued through the week...I piled more and more as I packed and purged.

Tuesday:  I started in on the ink pad holder shelves.

I had been thinking and searching online--wondering what to replace this with?  I am selling it because it doesn't hold all my ink pads, anyways, and a lot of refill bottles are too big around to fit in this unit.  (A solution came to me--one of those GA things...will explain in a bit here.)

Allie is not stressed about me working in the studio anymore--lol!

I worked all week on the studio.  Have partially packed boxes all over the place!

The problem is--sizes and weights--lol!  Trying to find which size boxes the supplies fit into and then distributing weight so the boxes aren't too heavy. 

Too much going on...Allie retreated to the bedroom. 

She wasn't happy with me waking her up--even though I tried to be really quiet.  It is difficult to sneak up on a cat.

I did finish going through the ink pad holder!

But there is always more waiting for me--lol!  Some of this mess... 

...was from on top of the dresser by the studio door.  You can see how they started out as two portable units with handles to hold things I use all the time.  But over time they also turned into the I'll-just-stick-this-in-here-because-I-don't-know-where-else-to-put-it containers.

So, I am trying something new.  Not finished yet, but remember that empty bottom drawer in the wider dresser?  Well, I moved everything down a drawer so I could use the top drawer to store some of the supplies from the portable containers.  I want to get down to just the one portable carry-all.  Getting there.

Thursday:  McFamily came over after Dagan got off work so I could have Liam open his birthday present.  Six years old already!

I got him the set of ten I Spy books by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick.  I wish they had these when Dagan was little.  

We all had fun searching for the hidden objects.  The photographer is quite an interesting fellow.

I've never tried to put a YouTube video in here (besides my own or Leah's).  I hope it works.  It's a short 4-minute video, if you're interested.  If it doesn't work (doesn't look like it did) try HERE.

Anyways, Dagan took some more things for sale to the garage for me and brought out my trash, too.  Nice visit.  Dagan hasn't been here for a while and noticed how empty it is getting--and boxes all over the place--LOL!  

Okay--the solution for that wall in the studio adjacent to the bathroom.  I kept searching--for different ink pad holders (way expensive to get a larger one--and then I have so many more things on the walls), shelving, even another bookcase...and as I searched (Amazon, craft stores and even hardware stores) the picture of my current wall shelving unit kept popping into my head.  Yes, I kept thinking, I need something I love as much as I have always loved that--maybe I can find something that will work as well.  I kept searching.  But it kept popping into my head--my beloved wall unit--that I wanted to be able to see from my chair in the new living room...

...that is so perfect for me when I bought up all the clear bins (little by little because they added up to more than the cabinet--lol!) that fit so perfectly in the shelves and were so sturdy that so-short me can get down anything and everything I want...without a stool!  

Then--finally--the way the image and thoughts kept popping into my head to the point that I was getting annoyed...it hit me!  GA!  GA is trying to help me out--duh!

Okay--so I went to see if Amazon still had this CD wall unit--not expecting they ever would.  There it was!  Even told me I bought it in 2012!  And it is 20% off right now.  Excited--I checked the bins.  Still sell them!  So--that is the plan!!  I discussed it with Leah--and she ordered the shelves already!!  So excited.  Now I am hoping the bins will go on sale!

I can put all that odd wall stuff I have here into the bins!  Ink pads with their refills, punches, scissors, various jars and bottles of supplies I use for mixed media, some of the stuff I keep on my art table!  I am so excited!  Perfect!  And I will still have plenty of room to put an IKEA shelf (like I have under the wall shelves here, but the deeper ones that can hold more) under them both and under the window by my art desk, too.  Things just keep getting better and better. :)

Friday:  Got labwork done for my CT Scan this coming Friday.  Leah came in afterwards.  Another thing we had been discussing was food storage containers.  I had completely passed on my lazy susan when Leah and I purged the kitchen because I didn't know what to do yet.  I have had Pyrex containers like this for years.  Ones with red covers and ones with blue covers.

Those covers drive me crazy!  The older I get and with getting arthritis in my hands, I can hardly get the covers on or off sometimes...well, a lot of the time with certain sizes...and they're not even airtight!  With Leah sending food over here all the time I have used hers and decided I really like the ones with the clip covers that seal airtight.  So much easier to use...and I swear they are even lighter.  But--to get rid of all of mine...seemed so wasteful.  They are perfectly good.  But I knew I'd have to purge, anyways, because I wouldn't need so many once I move and won't bake or cook much anymore.  (No stove/oven--but will still have a crock pot to use.)  Even if I do get a portable burner and/or a portable multi-purpose oven (not so sure about the oven contraption--and if I want to make a grilled cheese or fry an egg--I could use Leah's stove...so I just don't know till I get there)...regardless, I am not going to need all of the containers I had.

When Leah told me they had her containers at Costco for really reasonable--I decided to just go for it.  So, Leah stopped and picked them up before she picked me up for the labwork.  Then she ran them through the dishwasher and even put them in the lazy susan!

I'm selling all my old ones.  They are perfectly good...if you have good strong normal hands--lol!  But now, since we have storage containers going back and forth all the time, it won't matter where they are or what belongs to whom, you know?  Makes things a lot easier.  

Then something I can't believe I didn't know about after all my decades of loving to use ball and mason and kerr jars to store things in...as you can see...(and I've cleared out a couple boxes full that went to donations last time and still have more in the garage, I think)...

...they make plastic covers for them!!  You all probably knew this long ago, but I ran across them on Amazon and immediately had to get some!  

As I said, I have been using mine for decades--and the covers get rusty--annoying to use the rings and flat lids.  So over the years I have repurposed jar lids from sauces, etc, that would fit on the smaller ones.  Never found anything I could use for the wide-mouth jars.  I bought new rims and lids a few years ago now and now they are getting rusty again.  Tired of buying new lids.  So--I am one happy camper!!  I hope they fit well.  I will probably need more covers--lol!  And I love that they came in bright colors!!

A silly thing I bought this month were some small bags of different coffees.  Last month I bought a small bag of vanilla flavored coffee.  (Haven't bought ground coffee or flavored coffee in ages!)  It was fun for a change.  So this month I am trying Salted Caramel Mocha, Caramel, and...

...this crazy company's (Kicking Horse Coffee) Three Sisters coffee.  

What the heck.  Life is too short, right?  If any of them aren't great I can always add cream to them to tone it down.  ;)

Anyways, been a week!  Leah and I have been making decisions.  I've been researching online sinks, faucets, and bathroom hardware and have sent links to her.  She's been really busy.  Had Liam's birthday party today.  (Will be weird next year when I will be there for Ian and Liam's birthdays...with my ex and his wife...but that's another story--lol!)

This is what it looks like right now.  Getting sparser with boxes all around.  Making progress.  Working my way through the biggest project of all--the studio.  Feels good!

I've been mostly doing the P&P all week...but also that time of the month where I have to do banking, monthly orders, set up my bullet for Sept, and pay the rent.  I also organized all the photos I took of the various things to sell for Leah.  Selling all the canvases & art boards, acrylic tube paints (but I forgot to double-check and squeeze all the tubes to make sure they are still okay so I need to do that tomorrow as they are already in the garage--hope it's not in the 90s again), all the old food storage containers, three containers of beads (from when we used to make jewelry), and the ink pad/refill wall unit.  

I am parting already with more than I had expected I would, so purging in the studio is going well.

I just looked on my phone.  Supposed to be mid-90s again tomorrow but then drop down to 70 for a high on Tuesday.  Must be a storm coming.  (I might wait till Tuesday to check the tube paints.)  Been thinking about those poor people dealing with hurricanes and flooding and being without power.  I can't complain at all.  I have my AC and Allie who follows me around part of the time to see what I am packing or what I have moved.  She seems a bit less stressed about it because nothing major has happened to her life and we are fine. ;)

But she still has her moments where she cries--usually after I have moved a lot of stuff around--and is extra cuddly and wanting attention.  That's fine--I give her extra loving and petting (sometimes for a couple hours of laptime) and she's okay again.  

She's so observant!  She doesn't like to be right in the room when I am moving things about--but as soon as I leave she has to go in and check everything out to see what I did.  Looks over the entire room.  Such a character!

The melatonin and CBD oil are kind of working.  I've been closer to day hours most days at least.  Fingers crossed.  It will take some time.  I have lots of that.  (Nice to be able to say that with some confidence again.)

Oh, I saw something outside that freaked me out!  This insect flying around the pansies--at first, I thought it was a humungous bee!  Had stripes on its body but they were browns.  But it moved like a hummingbird!  Darted here and there.  But didn't have the body--or head--of a hummingbird at all.  Was gone before I could get a picture and haven't seen it since...and have never seen one before in my entire lifetime--or even on a nature show!  I researched online and I think it was a hummingbird moth!  Have any of you heard of it or seen one?  So strange!  I didn't know such a creature existed.  So many wonderful things on this earth.  Wow!

Well, I'll let you go and I will do a picture post of McFamily's vacation in Minneapolis--and probably with a couple short videos, too.  (They did go to the Rainforest Cafe and a Vikings pre-game!)  Till next week, my friends!!  I do so appreciate each of you. :)