July 28, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

Another post with lots of packing pictures...but also pictures of the chaos at the new place!  Finally made it over there Sunday!

Monday Leah brought me over to the hospital for my CT scans.

I forgot to tell you that Miss Allie had a melt down when the clothes bins got moved over on to the folding table.  They were like her stairs to get up on the table from that right side.  She can't jump that high and while I was washing clothes that week she was crying and pacing to get up on the table.  I  showed her the little chair on the other side.  Picked her up and set her on the chair.  Had to practically lift her up on to the table.  Allie does not like change.  She did lay in the bed there while I sorted and folded, but when she left she jumped from full height on her usual side where she used the bin-steps...and she shouldn't be jumping from that high.  She a fluffy girl.  But she's a stubborn one!  She would not go back up there by using the chair.  BUT--it occured to me that she does use this glass folding table next to the TV cabinet to lay in front of the screen.  I have two of them!  So I moved one in there on the right and proper side...

...and she was happy as a clam to nap all afternoon in there.   

I guess there is enough change in her home lately that losing her bin steps was the last straw--lol!  Wait till she finds out we are moving.

Tuesday Keanna came.  I had the feeling it was going to be her last day for some reason...even if she told me two more times.  I even wrote on my blackboard a couple things I rarely ask her to do that are hard for me with no gripping/scrubbing strength in my hands (scrub the sinks really good was the main one).  Turned out that feeling was correct.  That did turn out to be her last day because of some circumstance changes.  While she was arriving the tornado sirens were going.  Nothing happened...but it did spark telling her my 1965 Fridley tornado story while she cleaned.  So, on her last day she got to hear another of my crazy life stories--lol!  Big hugs goodby.  

No cleaner anymore.  I did tell her that since Dagan will clean my bathroom and they've had such trouble finding me a cleaner ever since covid...I'm going to tell them I don't need one anymore since I'm moving.  I've only been doing spot cleaning for 20 years or so I'll have to get in the habit of vacuuming and sweeping the whole place and more often.  I've done the dusting anyways since Keanna came two years ago and they cut the amount of time she had to clean compared to Caroline.  I'll be okay.  But it was nice.  How am I going to remember when to change the shower curtain?  ROFL! 

Allie is like my shadow since I started packing and moving things around all the time.  She knows something is up.  

She keeps me company when I am on my many breaks.  Always nearby, if not in my lap.

It got hot.  Closed up with the AC all week.  Heat warnings the past few days.

Does she look stressed to you?  Dragging toys out to beat up.  Always one eye on me.

She relaxes more whenever I'm on breaks--lol!

She wanders around for a while every night after I turn out the lights...crying.  She does it sometimes during the day, too.

It won't be long now!  In fact--while Leah and I were at the hospital for the CT scans we decided on a plan.  I had been milling this over and Leah was all for it.  Allie and I will move over the weekend before the moving day with the movers.  Like the 16th or 17th!  That will give us most of a week for Allie to settle in, for us to have some quiet time in the new place, and for me to get all my clothes organized, too.  Oh, and figure out the new TV remote.

That way Allie will be used to where her food, water, litter box, and carrier/hidey-hole are before the movers are doing their thing.  I can shut her in the maintenance/laundry room and bathroom (remember there's a cat door behind the toilet so she can go back and forth between the laundry room and bathroom).  Then she won't have to be locked in her carrier for hours and hours...scared and very likely singing the song of her people.  I can shut the laundry room door and the bathroom doors--nothing needs to go in either room from the movers--and she can hide in her carrier in the corner.  She'll have her food and water and litter box right in the laundry room.  Much easier on her.

Meanwhile--all week--I was packing off and on...and punching those address labels off and on.  Got much more done with the packing that I expected...again!  Got all three little dressers emptied in the studio.  The two that fit under the die-cutting table...

...and the tall skinny one by the door.

The box wall has been gradually thickening!

Allie had some warm spa time.  Being a typical feline sun worshiper, she's not a big fan of air conditioning.

But she vanished for safer places when I started packing the folding tables behind the chairs.

My trusty little cart has made many trips down the hallway.  Here we have one box waiting in line for a table spot...to be sealed, labeled, and stacked.

When Allie climbs up on the one taller glass folding table next to my chair the lazy Susan forces her to perch on the one end.  She looks like she's floating in the air--lol!

Took down my Tibetan cloth from the wall above the TV.  Been hanging there for 11 years and was quite dusty.  I figured I'd spray some water on it in the shower...and OMG!  Looked like a murder scene!  Red dye all over the place!  I was afraid I had ruined it!  I didn't want to try to squeeze water out of it and wrinkle it up, so I folded it and hung it over the bar on the back wall of the shower till it stopped dripping.  Got my two craft/painting/haircut/everything & anything towels--put a plastic bag down first and then the towels.  Laid the cloth down on the towels to dry.  The front looked pretty good.  The backing is red and I hoped it wouldn't bleed through to the front, right?

Obviously I needed a break.  Sat down to check emails...looked up and who was sitting on the wet cloth!!!

I chased her off.  She didn't want to go but didn't look like she got any dye on her, amazingly.  Sat down again at my laptop.....yup!

This is why I was worried about Allie sitting on it.  

Apparently was just the backing that bled.  The front looks fine and nothing came through on to the rug because I had put the plastic bag underneath.  :)  Whew!  Disaster avoided!  I didn't want to ruin it!  Those monks were the kindest human beings I have ever met.  They came to Concordia College while I was there and worked on a beautiful sand mandala for days...and then destroyed it.  I have some of the sand they gave away.  Packed away, of course.

Anyways, currently I have two small book boxes half full on the table.  Am filling the gray bin with essentials that have to stay until I move and the cactus has already made the trip over to the house.  :)  

Sunday Leah came to pick me up.  I had two big boxes that I couldn't lift (floor and table).  Leah stacked them for me.

She carried in more boxes from the garage.  A lot of them. :) Enough that they got stacked in the hallway!  (And this picture was taken after she put a bunch of boxes together for me, too!)

The ones that are taped together are all over in the box wall--lol!  I think she made about 10 of them for me.  And Allie's glass folding table got moved forward.  I don't know if Allie has noticed yet--lol! ;)

I totally forgot to take pictures until right before I was going to get my ride home...so I grabbed some to show you the chaos.  But we got a lot done.  Decided exactly where all the furniture will be spaced.  Measured for that new table...and it will fit!!  But no point in putting it together before the movers because they have to walk through to the studio with endless boxes, a couple tables broken down, and the three dressers from the studio here.  The pathway would be right through the kitchenette.  The new table won't be put together until after everything is moved.  So, we  brought over the tiny glass table with the red screw-on legs to be a temporary table I can use after Allie and I pre-move.  It is easy to take apart and get out of the way.  

But all this is what needs to be cleaned up and sorted soon.  Tons of packaging, tools, instructions...well, you can see!  This is right at the bottom of the stairs.  That door straight ahead is the long narrow storage room that is empty right now.  I am going to have them fill it with studio stuff.  Every box that has an "S" on it will be piled in there.  They will be the last I will unpack.

My kitchen.

All the furniture is in place.  We checked out the TV and Dagan connected it to the internet.  Have to set up the smartness later--lol!

The studio.  Oh, all those odd black rectangular and square pieces here and there are extensions that go on top of the billy bookcases to make them taller!  Whoohoo!

The boys got a gift of a foosball table and it has been down here.  That will have to be moved upstairs.  The long rolled up rug in the center on the floor there is one I had in the studio here for a few years.  I took it out because a rug on a rug and rollie chairs do not mix very well.  I want to try it in here before I decide whether to donate it.  

The bathroom.  Still needs those shower shelves put up, towel hooks, towel holder, and shower curtain rod.  I had such a shocking surprise when I had to use the toilet--it was warm!!  Oh my goodness!  I could get used to that quickly.  Talk about luxury!  I need to learn the instructions on how to use a bidet, too.

The bathroom countertop.  You see what I mean...construction stuff and packaging everywhere. :)

Got a quick pic of the boys playing games before I left.  Liam says he now wants to grow his hair out like Ian.  We'll see.  He tried it once a few ago and it annoyed him.  Too much work to comb and wash and such--lol!  But he's older now.

So, it was another busy week.  I am still amazed at how much I have been getting done!  I'm very sore right now, but one reason is from climbing stairs.  I haven't had to climb stairs for years.  Having to do that almost every day will be good for me.  :)  But right now my legs are saying--what the hell were you doing to us?  ROFL!  Get used to it, I say!
 

So, this week.  Oncologist on Monday...and more packing.  I have the bathroom/laundry room and the pantry left.  Not much I can pack in the kitchen.  I can probably pack a good portion of the bathroom and pantry, though.  Making lists...on paper...in my head at night.  Not sleeping very long--lol!  I am very happy Allie and I will pre-move.  All the back and forth car loads will go on all that weekend, I think.  

Dagan and Leah will be gone for a long weekend the weekend before that to Minneapolis for Dagan's annual cardiologist appointment (8-11th).  Going to be a busy, exhausting month.  Went from stagnation to busy, busy bee.  I am also sooo grateful for LubriSyn...a good AC in this apartment...and friends like you.  Praying for many of you going through rough times.  Stay warm or cool as the case may be.  Hug your loved ones and tell people how you feel about them and appreciate them.  You are appreciated and special to me.  Till next week...

July 21, 2025 Monday--5am

Good morning!

What a week!  But first I have to tell you the most important news!  We have a moving date!!  August 21st, a Thursday, at noon with Moving Team Six.  I can hardly believe it!  After three years there's finally a moving date--whoohoo!!  Couldn't go for earlier in August because Dagan has his annual heart/pacemaker checkup down in Minneapolis earlier in August.  That's fine with me.  We have a moving date.  I can give my two-month notice the end of this month.  And I will be moved in a month!  It still hasn't sunk in that it's really real--lol!

Keanna came on Monday.  She was surprised at how much I had gotten done.  She helped me pull out all the extra wooden shelves we had in the bookcases in the studio.

After she left I changed the shower curtain and thought about her news.

Keanna got another job.  She'll only be here maybe two more times and she won't ever see the new place.  More changes.  

I don't think I will get another cleaning girl.  It has been more and more difficult for the county to find cleaners.  Once I move if Dagan (who is the one in charge of cleaning bathrooms at their house) can clean mine once a month I will be okay.  Keanna's company didn't let her do a lot of things that Caroline's did all those years.  She wasn't allowed to clean the patio door, climb up more than two steps on a stool to reach things I couldn't, hand scrub a floor occasionally to get around the edges...and there were a few more things I can't remember now.  Oh, and my allotted time went from 3 hours every two weeks to an hour and fifteen minutes with Keanna's company.   

Anyways, ever since covid it has been an issue.  So many people quit.  You might even remember Caroline's boss herself came and cleaned for me once a month during covid for a while because Caroline had gotten another job and they'd been struggling to get somebody to clean for me. That's when they switched companies, I think, to Keanna's.  The county hasn't contacted me yet, but when they do I think I might just tell them I won't need one after the move.  

Also on Monday morning before Keanna came...there was no hot water.  Turned out we didn't have hot water all week!  There was no way I was going to the clinic to get my labwork done without a shower!  Kept thinking every day we'd have hot water back.  The office posted notices outside our doors...twice.  I got emails from the management company...twice.  Got more stressful as the week went on because I have to have the bloodwork done or I can't get my CT Scans on Monday.  They need to know you are okay to get the dye they use or they won't do it.  

On top of that--I went into a fibro IBS flare and I wasn't sleeping well or long--lol!  Was not the week to get much packing done--lol!  But, at least it wasn't because of all the packing I did.  It wasn't due to body pain, anyways.  Exhaustion...yes.  But the LubriSyn doesn't help with CF--lol!  It only lubricates the joints.

Speaking of--the LubriSyn story...

I have been following Cog Hill Farm on YouTube for years.  Jason, Brooke and their daughter, MaryCarl (who is now a teenager and doesn't want to be on videos anymore), moved 4-5 years ago to a basically empty big plot of land from their old smaller farm.  They don't eat any of the animals they own--except for the eggs the chickens lay.  Grow a lot of their own fruit and veggies.  All their animals are pets.  They talk to them.  (Like I've always talked to mine--lol!).  They love animals and end up taking in animals that need help, are abandoned, or need rescuing fairly often...but they don't do it because they are a rescue place or a petting zoo or anything like that.  Just because they love animals.

Brooke got mysteriously sick a couple years ago--aching all over, exhausted--and went from doctor to doctor to try to find a diagnosis.  (Sounded all too familiar to me.)  Several months ago they got asked about possibly taking this calf...had four owners, was told it should be put down, but nobody ever had the heart because she's such a sweet thing.  Matilda got stepped on probably by her mother or another cow when she was really little--right on a front knee.  Had to hop about on three legs and dragged that leg with its foot turned under rubbing along the ground.  They took her.  Got their vet to look at her.  Checked with an Alabama university, I think it was...livestock experts somewhere.  Nothing much they could do for her.  As she continued to grow and gain weight...didn't look good for her to be dragging that leg around.  Their vet recommended some exercises--pushing against her side ten times in a row a few times a day to try to make her put weight on that leg.  Not a lot of change but a little bit.  Then he recommended giving her LubriSyn on her food.  It didn't take very long--maybe a month or so--and she could stand on that leg and walk on it.  She'll always have a little bit of a limp and a really large hard knee--but she can run even!

Meanwhile, when Brooke discovered that they also make LubriSyn for people--she started taking it to lubricate her joints.  She was able to be back in the videos more and feeling better also in a couple of months.  Hasn't cured her.  She can still have flares...but she feels a lot better with less aches and pains.  Can do the farm chores again almost every day.  Looks better again.  Smiling and laughing more again.  And other people were commenting and emailing her telling her their stories about using LubriSyn and how it helped them.

Well, I kept thinking about it.  Not cheap.  But if I got it through their code (CogHill) you can get 25% off.  Still--with shipping it's about $38 for a month size bottle.  I figured I'd try it once and if I didn't notice anything--well, it had been worth a try.

Honestly, I wasn't sure it was doing much.  I maybe felt a little less achy, but nothing really noticeable.  Truth--it was when I started packing that I went--woah!!  I've had fibro for over 20 years and I have been much worse ever since Keytruda, as you guys know.  Fibro is in the muscles.  Arthritis is in the bones, of course.  I have arthritis in my lower back--degenerative spine--and I have it all over from jaw to toes.  Especially back, hips, and knees.  But the muscle aches and weakness have always been the prevailing consideration.  No doctors have ever talked to me about my arthritis, to be honest.  So, I thought--how much would lubricating my joints actually help my situation, right?  

I just went through a year and a half of purging and packing here, as most of you know.  And I have not done anything since--for a year and a half.  So--by rights--I fully expected to be even slower, able to do less, and in more pain packing now.  Absolutely!  When I was purging and packing before I was lucky if I could do baby steps (10-15 minutes sessions) 3-5 times a day...and then was in such pain I was unable to function for a day or two.  Then I'd have another day where I would do as many sessions as I could handle (sometimes only 1 or 2)--and repeat.  There was no way in hell I could have packed all I did now in those two weeks!  No way!  And instead of one day on and 1-2 days off--I averaged 2-3 days on and 1 day off!!  And sometimes was packing for 20-30 minutes five times a day!  Unbelievable.

I still went through the last week dealing with CF and IBS--but I wasn't out of commission due to pain from the packing!!!  

I do have a lot of health issues--but this stuff is helping one of them.  More than I ever thought!  I ordered another bottle--lol!

So there's how I heard about LubriSyn.  And I will let you know how it goes, but so far--for me--it is worth giving it a shot for a few months, anyways.  Not some miracle cure, but it helps me.

Anyways, I split up the wooden shelves we added to the bookcases and stuck them down at the bottom of each bookcase.

LubriSyn doesn't give me back the strength in my hands--lol!  I had three of those pegs that hold the shelves that I couldn't get out in that front bookcase.  

Got all the shelves out.  We wanted to reorganize them so each one had original shelves in it in order to try to sell them.  People can take the extra shelves if they want them.  Could be painted or stained.  We just never got around to it.

Allie has been quite stressed with me moving things all around in her home.  "What are you doing now" look.

When I'm resting between my longer baby step sessions...I do a lot of cloud watching.

Allie does some...

...but she was on alert with all the noises in the hallway.  The maintenance room is kitty-corner across the hall from us and they were working on the hot water heater off and on all week.

Oh, in case you wanted to see how my skin graft is healing...not too bad.

My lip is sticking out a bit and the skin is weird, but I am getting back some feeling little by little.  I told Leah my smile will probably always be crooked from now on.  It's always been crooked, she said--LOL!

We've had some rain--been told we'd have rain and never did--had light rain when it wasn't predicted...but it's generally been cooler!!!   Thank goodness!  Been able to have the patio door open quite a bit.

I was thinking one day...I don't know if I have taken pictures of a bird sitting right smack dab on the peak of the garage across from us.  They like to sit right at the very peak for some reason.  Best view to watch for the hawk?

Well, meanwhile...we had no hot water and I HAD to make it to the lab on Friday.  Last day I could go!  The idea of packing up a bunch of stuff so I could go over to use my new shower...and they haven't put up the shower rod yet...I told them I would wash my hair in cold water at least.  Had been taking GI showers all week.  Leah said she'd come over with some dry shampoo she likes and put it in my hair for me so it wouldn't be all greasy, anyways.  That sounded better than trying to wash my hair in ice cold water.

So she came by Thursday night, cut my dirty hair for me, then sprayed white powder in my hair.  Now I know what I might look like when my hair turns gray--lol!  She also put together all the U-Haul boxes except the two biggest ones and added the rest of the ink to my printer.  (I tried to pay attention so I would know how to do it next time--new printer.)  She pulled out the three doohickies from the bookcase for me, too.  And she took home half the pictures we took down off the walls.  What she could easily carry.  (They have to take something with them every time they come over from now on--new rule I made--lol!)

Went Friday to the clinic with Dagan and the boys.  Dagan needed to go to the lab, too.  Finger prick.  Because he's on blood thinners.  Dagan was in and out right away in two minutes.  I was next.  But I wasn't so lucky.  This is the second time they have messed up my lab order.  The story--can't get bloodwork more than seven days before the order is dated and they put down July 31st!!  Wrong date.  Should have been a week before my CT Scans on Monday.  Anyways, I had to call his office myself because of it being between clinics they couldn't call?  (He's at the Roger Maris Cancer Center.)  I waited on hold a long time, but finally it was taken care of and I could get my labs done.  Whew!  I think we were there over an hour!

I had Dagan pop in and take the box of painting brushes with him.  ;)

Right before I left for the clinic--there was hot water!!  Really hot!  Whoohoo!  

But by the time I got home...it was warm to tepid to warm...the seniors in this building were all using the hot water at once--lol!  So I figured I'd wait till morning.

Meanwhile, I got all the shelves arranged back in the four bookcases and got pictures for Leah.  

Showed the extra shelves they could have, too.

Leah is on Facebook and is the one who sells stuff on Facebook Marketplace.  So those can be posted now.  She's been reposting some things that didn't sell that are in my garage, Dagan told me.  Good!

I went to take the art table apart...

...but found these.  Leah says I need a crescent wrench.  She'll bring hers over to get it apart.  Not sure when, of course.

Since I know when I am moving now...something I had put off was dealing with my address labels.  Since I have 12-14 people I write to regularly (or try to--lol!), I order a bunch of return address labels when they go on sale.  I decided rather than throw these away I could remove the address from them and use them as stickers or envelope seals.  Some I could cut square...

...but a lot of them are round.  I cut them into strips...

...and use this circle punch to cut the design out of the center.

Great idea.  But I got this far and my hand was hurting and all red from the punch.  So it is something I will have to do a little at a time.  But it will definitely be worth it!  :)

I came across some real deals on some blank cards on Amazon.  Since I haven't been able to make much more than Birthday and Christmas cards these past few years and am very low on handmade cards...

...and these are just what I like for flowers--more realistic and delicate...I bought up a bunch.  They were $5.99-$6.99 for 20-30 cards!!  Amazingly cheap! 

So, my dear pen pals, you may be seeing some pretty floral cards in your mail boxes--LOL!  ;)

It's always exciting to get super deals, isn't it!?  And being realistic, it may be quite a while before I am all unpacked, settled in, organized, and able to be making cards again.  Doesn't honestly take much to tempt me with store-boughten cards, though.  I have loved stationery long before I made cards...and have boughten cards all these decades since I started making them, too--lol!  Been a letter writer since I was nine and had my first pen pal from Italy!  Anyways, makes me very happy to have something pretty to share.

Meanwhile--Saturday morning--the water was still warm to tepid to warm.  Took till noon until all these seniors gave the hot water a break--lol!  I jumped into a nice long luxurious shower and then washed a couple loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher.  You really know how much you appreciate a water heater when it is gone.  ;)

I moved the art table out of the way... 

...and I had to move a larger box off the table in the bedroom so I could use the table to sort and fold clothes and towels.  I moved it wrong.  Or so my back told me in no uncertain terms.  

This was the culprit.

So I took the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday off from any packing.  The CT Scans on Monday usually annoy the hell out of my back in the first place--lying flat like that on that hard surface for so long (I have two scans and have to also wait between them and not move for seven minutes).  They have to help me sit up at the end.  But once all that is over and done with...I am hoping maybe to be back to packing on Tuesday (instead of what would have been my usual Weds or Thurs or even Fri--lol!).  Fingers crossed.  These are the tests for the LubriSyn--lol!  I am still tired and have pain.  But the pain level has been lower and I have been recovering faster.  So we'll see how it goes.  But it gives me hope and lights that flame of optimism within me.  :)

Congrats if you made it this far!  Was a lot that went on this last week.  I am losing my cleaning girl--but I finally have a moving date, have hot water again, and the LubriSyn really seems to be helping with the arthritis, at least.  Life is good!  Till next week, my friends!!  :) :)