November 26, 2023 Sunday--6pm

 Good afternoon!

I am posting on Sundays this week and next due to medical appointments on the following Mondays.  Was another week where I got a lot done on the studio.  Was too close to being done to quit and work on Christmas card envelopes--lol!  I just finished today!  Done in the studio!  Whoohoo!!  

I sorted through all the miscellaneous supplies.

When I got through all of those then I started on the three plastic bins and two boxes full of adhesives of all kinds.

A huge tossing was involved--lol!  About time, actually.  I had rolls of tape that were 20-30 years old!  They stick together and become gooey after a while--lol!  The liquid glues get thick or turn into one giant immovable lump.  Glue sticks shrink down and dry up.  It was long past time to purge all of those.

Been chillier so the Critter Cafe has been busier.  Still just have the one covey of eight partridges.  I know because the limper and hopper are still with this group.  :)

I have worked all week just on finishing up in the studio.  Feels great to have it done for the winter!  And winter did arrive again this morning.  I no sooner tossed out some seed...

...and the small birds were there for breakfast.

There's a huge flock of small birds I just call the sparrows--over 30 of them come at once.  But there's a small flock of juncos that come, too.

The partridges were here in the morning, too.  A couple more times already today.

It snowed and blew like crazy this morning but quit early in the afternoon.  Will all be melted this week as we are supposed to get back up over freezing again.  Not tomorrow when I go for my CT scans with Leah.  Only a high of 21 it says for Monday.

I'll show you the studio--all set for the winter.  Closet is empty except for some tall stuff against the wall.  I tried to pull apart the wire cube shelving, but I am not strong enough.  

The bookshelves with cardstock, stuff I use regularly, and projects in progress are in these two bookcases.

I never planned to empty the wall unit until I move.  The die cutting table and below, punches racks, and small wall shelves are all cleared off.

The art table.  I haven't even decided what will go on that lazy susan yet! 

The two bookcases on the other wall have a wide assortment!  I could keep more things out than I had planned because of not selling these bookcases before winter.  :)  

I could keep out more card making supplies, art journaling, mandala, mixed media, bookbinding, and even all the fun stuff for jazzing up my letter-writing paper.  

The U-Haul wall is a little bigger, too.

Allie is so used to me packing boxes now that she didn't even move when I taped the other huge box up (also cleared out most of the TV cabinet today, too).

Not even the ripping sound of the packing tape...which scared her witless the first time she heard it...did more than raise an eyebrow.

There won't be any boxes packed again for a while.  I was supposed to have Christmas cards on the top of my list this past week--and the studio got done instead.  So, cards are next.  And I only have one room left--the pantry.  But I think I need a break.

Once I finish with the Christmas cards I plan to play some in the studio!  

Goodness!  Just now there was a nasty partridge battle going on outside.  I went to go look and there were quite a few more than eight partridges all over the place out there.  So--a second covey has arrived.  They will learn to take turns.  They always do.

Meanwhile...

Okay...

There was something going on with the build and Leah wanted Dagan to be the one to tell me.  He brought me for my lab work on Friday so I finally got to find out what was happening--or why nothing was happening, I guess you could say.  At least part of the story, anyways.  Dagan is not excellent with all the details but I will see Leah tomorrow for my CT scans so she can fill me in some more as to what they plan to do or what the options are.

Okay...

They had an inspector come on the electricity.  All was progressing well with what was being done--but 1) he was not happy that they hadn't submitted plans before they started, 2) there were a couple of small things he wanted tweaked, but the worst was 3) he was not going to allow Trent to do any more work on the electricity!  So now they have to hire an electrician to finish the electrical work.

This makes no sense to us.  The inspector would have been fine if Dagan and Leah were doing all the work themselves--even though they wouldn't have any experience and not know what they were doing--but having "a pal" coming over and doing any work on it was forbidden.  ??  He even sent Trent a cease and desist letter!!  Dagan and Leah do not want to try and finish all the rest by themselves, so now they have to hire somebody.

They already talked to the lady owner of the place they dealt with a couple of times for things on their house previously--like when they needed the plug in for the electric car in the garage, for example.  (And that lady knew of this inspector, BTW--not positively.)  Dagan told me that it would cost about $4,000.00 for her company to finish the job.  So--more delays...and more money.  I'll find out more probably tomorrow.  Maybe Leah is still getting estimates...who knows.  Whatever the case, it will work out somehow.  But it is stressful.  Dagan thought the cabinets would be finished sometime in December.  So they have to try to push that back.  Sounds like a lot to deal with at once...with Leah's new job and the kids in a new school and on top of that--all of this.  You always hear that construction never goes smoothly or as fast as expected...very true, I guess.  Our two weeks on the basement floor staining turned into three months right off the bat.  

So, I have no idea whatsoever when the apartment will be finished.  But Dagan and Leah don't know, either--lol!  We just know it will happen eventually.  On my end--I will be as ready as I can be for the move.  I will have purged and pre-packed everything I can.  Only room left is the pantry.  One can only do what one can actually do, right?  That's my part.

I have plenty to keep my busy.  I haven't showed you the other side of the bedroom where all the letter writing stuff, desk stuff, printer, bookbinding & art papers, and so much more got shoved and stacked because I knew I needed to keep most of this out until I moved.

Yup!  I do need to go through all of this more thoroughly.  

Once I get the cords reorganized in back of my chairs so I can get the other table up...this is where I plan to move all the actual writing materials and stuff I had in my desks--until I move.  But that is just rearranging stuff mostly.  

Can you see Allie hiding behind the blinds to watch the birds eating?  She loves to "spy" on them.

Anyways, that's all the news from this last week.  Dagan said Trent is only not allowed to work on the electric.  That inspector was only for the electrical.  Trent can still work on plumbing and HVAC.  Okay.  ??  I guess those are different inspections?  And inspectors?  I don't know much about construction, obviously.  

Maybe I'll know more when I post next week.  Maybe not--lol!  But I will be posting on Sunday again because the following Monday I see my oncologist, Dr. Failing.  I'm hoping to not have to go through all the tests for six months next time vs. the every three months I have been going.  I expect everything to be fine again.  :)

So, until next Sunday...best to you and I will get busy on my Christmas cards this week.  I hope to have them all mailed out by the first week in December.  And any little positive construction-energy sent our way (if there is such a thing) would be appreciated.  

I am just so glad I am suddenly feeling halfways decent for the last three weeks.  I have been able to get something extra done almost every day!  (Maybe 5 days out of the week!)  Been feeling closer to my old self than I have for a couple of years.  Quite a ways to go, but there hasn't been this much progress for sooo long that it makes me giddy just thinking about it.  Bless you all.  I do so appreciate every single comment or email or good thought.  Till next time...