Friday-1:45pm

Leah came over--went to start my desk computer to see what it has been doing--and it started for her!!?? I had tried maybe eight times the day before?? Apparently sitting overnight it repaired itself again. Good. Baffling, but good. :):) I won't shut it off again. If it freezes up I will call Dagan and Leah and let them deal with it--hehe! They have the magic touch. :)

Anyways, these were the pictures of Karma on the porch a couple of mornings ago. Yesterday was so warm the porch doors and my bedroom window were wide open all day--until about 2am, actually. Wow! (Was because I had no wind in my direction--makes all the difference.) I think it got up to mid 60's yesterday and they said it might hit 70's by next week. One extreme to the next, eh?

Warm enough for some bug to be crawling on the porch...
...much to Miss Karma's delight!
Anyways, I also had managed to actually get a close up of one of the little splotchy coryadorus sitting next to one of the plants. Mind you, this fish is like about half an inch long--just a baby. The baby Chinese algae eaters are way to hyper to sit still for a picture. They see you coming near the tank and they hide. But they are doing a good job on the algae! :):)

Yesterday--whew! I feel like it has been two days since I woke up yesterday--no lie! Leah came over and we gabbed for a while before we took off. Karma had been sleeping in her chair when Leah came and didn't run away to hide under the end table or in the bedroom under the bed. This has been happening more often lately. ???

She stayed in the chair--and Leah sat on the foot rest!! I was in my chair and we just chatted and ignored her. Karma may look like she is sleeping, but she had her eyes slit and ears back a little bit--keeping an eye on Leah. But this is tremendous progress!! Had to snap a picture or nobody would believe it!

We have never known exactly why Karma suddenly disliked Leah and started to hiss and run away from her--then Dagan--and finally Caroline?? Basically most people who came over started to freak her out?? I have never had an antisocial cat before--ever. When she was around 2 years old she just started to change?? (She was four in February.)

I know we live this really, really quiet life and it is just Karma and I 98% of the time--and I have never been basically home all the time with a cat--but why?? We'll never know the workings of Miss Karma's mind. We just accepted that she had become this old lady cat who can't take company--hehe! She has started to calm down a little about people in the house now this past winter. Also--not sure why?? hehehe! Well--with Dagan and Leah, but not with Caroline. Crazy cat!

Anyways, we took off and went all around town--to K&Krafts in Moorhead (don't carry the ribbon holders any more) and then back across the river to Fargo. Leah and I have been able to be gone longer shopping because I sit and rest in the car part of the time while she goes into a store or two. Works well for us. I should bring a book next time. :) We were gone over four hours and went lots of places. Leah went in to the beauty supply place for her OPI nail polish (surprised me with some nail supplies!), the battery store, their lawyer's, Creative Kitchen at West Acres...and I might have missed one. I went inside at Office Max and Target. I had my birthday Target gift card from Blaine and Kathy (brother and his wife). Thanks so much for remembering me!!!

I got some business paper and bubble envelopes (for www.bookcrossing.com) at Office Max, too. Leah bought the poster tack and the super glue for our supplies over here.

Finally we went over to pick up PitaPaseo! Transferred all my goodies to my big red shoulder shopping bag. Leah has a friend who has sewn canvas shopping bags for her and we had a denim bag and a red canvas bag made for me. I have a harder time carrying bags, so we had shoulder bags made and I can carry a lot myself then. Independence! :) We each drove home from there--and Pita Paseo feels a little spunky now! hehe! They replaced the spark plug wires, the ignition was repaired, and the oil changed. Even wiped down the dashboard, etc. :):)

I totally collapsed for a few hours. Then gradually put away most of the bounty last night. Spent several hours with the inmates of Oz--hehe! Oh--and did my nails! :):) Of course, after being out and about--I am perfectly useless today--hehe! But so happy to have gotten all that we got done these past couple huge shopping trips! :):)

Oh--and my meds finally arrived in the mail yesterday and started them last night. TaDa!! They should help a lot. :)

Our 60 degree afternoons are supposed to disappear for a few days. They say back to the 50's today and 40's tomorrow.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Thursday- 10:30am

First of all, my desk computer is down again. It froze up and I made the mistake of thinking I could turn it off and get it to start up again. I have to wait until next week for Dagan to come and look at it. I retook these pictures for the blog today. Challenging for me to use different programs to even get the pictures into the laptop--hehe! I am less than fond of typing and having to wait for the words to show up on the screen--but am grateful to be online at all, right? :)

Anyways, yesterday when the mail came the book arrived from Gary (CBP group)--and it looks awesome!!!!

Besides the four gentlemen, which I want to learn, they have examples of butterflies...

...and grasshoppers at the end of the book.

So exciting! Thanks so much, Gary!!! :):):)

And the backordered reinker arrived already yesterday, too. I am happy with this new-to-me company. :) http://www.blockheadstamps.com/

BUT--there were no meds? I called the pharmacy and they never got the message that they were supposed to mail them out! The lady said they'd go out in the mail right away. So--they should be here today, I hope.

I also got my bill for the oral surgery and Medicare at least covers that pretty well--tada! Out of $1,205.00 I owe $149.99. Whether that is all of the actual billing, tho--who knows? It had no itemization at all--just one total.

Was a gorgeous day yesterday!! Had the porch door open all day. I didn't hear if it got up to 65 like they predicted, but I wouldn't doubt it. :) Today is supposed to be a little cooler because of the clouds, but supposed to be in the low 60's. And I did hear that the Red River isn't supposed to be as high as before, so they aren't as worried about it as last time. All the dikes are already up, of course, too. There's plenty enough flooding elsewhere in North Dakota because of the Sheyenne River. I heard there are 100 roads out.

Today Leah is coming over. We are going to go pick up PitaPaseo and do a little bit of shopping. When the mechanic went to remove the spark plug wires to check them--the wires crumbled away in his hands. So she needed spark plug wires and a new ignition or starter, I guess. Hope little Pita will be fine now for a long time. :)

Spring is definitely here in the North Country. Have a great day! :)

Wednesday-1pm

I'm still on this weird split shift sleeping--but got in more sleep today. :)

Yesterday Leah came over after work--took five times to get PitaPaseo to start, but she did! We got her over to the dealership and dropped her off. We had quite a bit of time before Caroline--so we went over to PetSmart so I could buy some cleaner fish. Michael's is right next door--so we popped in there first and we got a Martha Stewart border punch for thinner ribbon..

...and a package with a whole bunch of tiny metal frames. Of course--here they are already separated and put into some little bags I had--hehe!
Then I picked up a couple of corys and algae eaters at PetSmart. Now that my big pleco is gone I needed some other bottom feeders.

Anyways, then Leah got a call from the repair shop. The lady never asked for my key! They usually always ask you for it and have a little paper tag ready to write down all your information--so I didn't think of it. Now we were running later and didn't quite make it before Caroline. Luckily Caroline has my cell phone number and called to find out where I was. She was shocked--I am always home--hehe!

So--Caroline spiffed up my place. Leah and I put things away while I floated the four new fish. Time flew--Caroline was done and gone. Leah went home. Karma fell asleep in the out-of-place chair.
And I was in bed a little after 8pm! Just seems like the day went by extra fast yesterday. Today is an R&R day. :):)

Tuesday-5:45am

This was yesterday morning. Today it's supposed to reach 60 degrees!! :)

I was in bed at 8:30pm and have been up since 1am. Going to go lay down again for a little while, but wanted to blog now because I might not have time later.

I waited around most of the day yesterday for Dr. Magid's nurse to call and then call back again. Found out that the stitches don't dissolve for 6-7 WEEKS! Now I think I would have remembered that if I had heard it, even tho I was pretty spacey--hehe! And I don't remember reading that in any of the information I was given.

Anyways, the stitches are probably causing the soreness and tenderness in the back because they do up up my cheek some--and she said that was normal. She reminded me that this was surgery to the jaw bone and not like having a tooth pulled. The swelling coming and going--she talked to the doctor and he is giving me some more antibiotics--she said there would be two prescriptions. I asked her to call them in to my usual pharmacy (as long as the swelling is down again right now) because I am all set up so they can just mail them to me--tada! So, Leah and I didn't end up going anywhere yesterday after all. :)

Leah and I were planning on bringing the car in earlier today and doing a little shopping before Caroline comes at 3pm to clean--but when I woke up Leah had left me an email that her new boss had called and wanted her to come in to work from 9:30am-1pm. So, we will try to get the car over and be back before Caroline comes. We'll have to decide when to do the shopping--maybe tomorrow. Plans are always tentative, right? Good thing we're so very adaptable, right? hehe! :)

There's flooding again all over North Dakota. I heard Interstate 94 was closed between Jamestown and Bismarck--but I didn't catch why? The Red River is rising here in Fargo Moorhead again, too. But I think they're still hoping it will not get as high as before. Time will tell--shortly.

Right now--I am off to bed again for a while....zzzzzzzzz

Monday-11:15am

Sometimes I wonder where Karma has gone when I haven't seen her for a while--and she'll be sitting in some odd spot--like here in the corner of the bedroom. She must just figure she hasn't parked herself on that particular spot for a while?

Pull any chair out of its normal position and you will have a cat sitting in it within a couple minutes--so I move the chairs around for the heck of it sometimes--hehe! Here she's watching the fish.
Flash. (Makes her eyes look weird.)

No flash.

I forgot to say that Dagan and Leah went to their bankruptcy hearing last Friday. I think that means they will have it finalized in two months? Finally! :)

Much to my surprise I read online that there were 40 ships hijacked last year! Why don't we ever hear about these pirates? I am glad the captain is okay and has been rescued. What a brave man to offer himself for his crew! :)

I watched Sicko last night. Leah told me I should rent it. I have been uninsured off and on my whole life, so I know how our system works--or doesn't work. How without insurance or good insurance coverage you can't afford to go to the doctor, dentist, or eyedoctor--so you wait (like I just did) until you are forced to go because something bad has gone wrong.

And even when you have insurance--like I did when I hurt my arm at that factory back in 1995--workman's comp forced me to re-injure my arm three times before they let me go and I ended up with a much worse permanent injury than I had in the first place. But they tell you that you have to do this or that (even if the doctor says you shouldn't) or they will say you are "uncooperative" and kick you off your compensation--(was non-union). They can make you go to another doctor and another one--until they find one who will barely look at you and say you can do the work--and you end up in the emergency room again--and again. They try to find ways to kick you off so they don't have to pay you. You are treated like a liar and a leper if you are costing them money--unless it is something easy and quick and you can be back on the job in a couple days--you become the enemy.

You almost don't want to be chronically sick or badly injured in this country unless you are independently wealthy or live with somebody who can completely support you. I was like so many Americans--a couple of paychecks away from financial ruin. One bad accident and you lose everything.

Anyways, Sicko was quite emotional for me to watch.

Michael Moore sets his sights on the plight of the uninsured in this eye-opening, Oscar-nominated documentary. In the world's richest country, 45 million people have no health insurance, while HMOs grow in size and wealth. Moore also explores the widespread use of antidepressants and their possible link to violent behavior. With his trademark humor and confrontational style, Moore asks the difficult questions to get to the truth behind today's health care.

Hit so close to home that I found myself in tears for the people in the movie--many times. Made me want to move to Canada or Norway! Our medical system is such a cash cow for some many corporations--they have a stranglehold on it and won't let go. Bottom line is money--people don't really matter to them. The insurance companies make the policies for the clinics and hospitals--not the doctors, anymore.

Anyways, speaking of health--I am waiting to hear back from Dr. Magid's nurse (oral surgeon). The swelling went down yesterday it doesn't hurt as much again (of course--it's Monday, right?), but I still have questions. The back of the stitches are so tender still and my stitches haven't "dissolved" yet after 2 1/2 weeks? I want to know if all of this is normal or not? Could even be that the stitches pulling could be causing the pain--who knows? I'll find out--eventually. :):)

It's a cloudy day and supposed to get up into the mid 50's. I guess I'll fill you in tomorrow as to what I find out today. :)

Sunday-10am

Most of the snow is gone this Easter morning.

That snow pile between the garages in the back of the photo is so black that it looks like a dirt pile! Spring snow is not pretty in town.

The second cresting of the Red River is supposed to be mid-week. They were telling people to shore up their dikes over their Easter vacation. We've been very lucky that we haven't had any rain to speak of and it stayed cold longer--gave the river time to go down. I'm sure everybody is praying that the crest is lower this time. :)

Miss Karma this morning. Maybe she thought it was too cold to sit outside? So windy and the air so cool that I already had to shut the door again. Only 42 right now, but supposed to get up to 54 today and maybe 60 tomorrow!!
The swelling is down again this morning. But the stitches are soooo sore in the back where they go up the inside of my cheek. Still can't chew on that side. I'm calling in the morning to ask some questions. Maybe they'll even tell me this is perfectly normal--who knows?

I talked to Leah and we are going to try and start PitaPaseo tomorrow and just bring it in ahead of time (appointment is for Tuesday afternoon). Rather than have the car stranded someplace in town and have to tow it farther if it won't start--Leah is going to give me a ride wherever I need to go on Monday. Plus Tuesday Caroline comes and she called and needs to come later in the day (3pm) because of school. I hope Pita has one more start left in her to get her in for repairs. :):)

Meanwhile--it is a beautiful, sunny morning.
Happy Easter everybody! :):)

Saturday-11:45am

Karma last night--lying on her rubber brush--hehe! (She snuck it off the table.)

This morning is gorgeous! Karma is in seventh heaven when I can leave the door cracked open so that she can come and go from the porch.
Supposed to maybe hit 50 degrees today for the first time!! tada!

With the wind it doesn't feel like it is 42 degrees right now, tho. I watched the news last night and good grief! Tornadoes, fires, earthquakes--and pirates! What is the world coming to? *sigh*

And I am pretty positive I will be calling the oral surgeon's on Monday. :( Even when I wake up and it is less sore--it is swollen--for sure. No doubt about it any more. (Of course--it's the weekend--hehe!) I am hoping I can just take some more antibiotics and that he doesn't have to go back in there and cut away any more bone. :(

And then I have to pray that the car will start for me. I already warned Leah. We have an appointment to drop the car off on Tuesday to have that checked out.

So--not feeling quite as cheerful today. I know everything will all work out in the end, tho.

I do have something absolutely fascinating and thought-provoking to share, if you don't already know about this website. Ruby had sent it to me and then I forgot about it--just ran across it again.

Enjoy!!

http://www.ted.com/

Friday-11:15am

As soon as I had emptied that wild bag of goodies...

I forgot to show you what Leah bought--one for her and one for me. Can you take a guess at what this is? Hehe!
It's a natural inhaler for any respiratory problems. Leah has asthma and I have chronic sinus problems. We're going to try them and see if we notice that they help.

But I think I will wait until my mouth has healed up. It is still so tender where the stitches are. If it is not better by Monday I am calling the oral surgeon back. :( *sigh* I would think it would be better by now and not so sore? I keep rinsing with warm salt water...well, we'll see how the weekend goes?

Yesterday was a wash day and Miss Karma wanted to be made into the bed and slept for many quiet hours in there--hehe! One of her favorite things.

I have been really lucky with the good movies lately! Yesterday I watched Doubt...

In a Catholic elementary school in the Bronx, Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) begins to have doubts about one of the priests, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who seems to have become overly involved in the life of a young African American pupil. But Flynn isn't the only one she has doubts about. Is she overreacting to the situation or is there a truth that needs to be discovered? John Patrick Shanley's drama was nominated for five Oscars and co-stars Amy Adams and Viola Davis.

...and Seven Pounds.

Distraught over his wife's death -- and convinced that his own actions had something to do with it -- a depressed IRS (Will Smith) agent begins plotting his suicide, vowing to improve the lives of seven strangers in the process. But a chance meeting with a woman who has a life-threatening heart defect (Rosario Dawson) threatens to derail his plans when, suddenly, their budding relationship feels a lot like love.

Both of these movies were disturbing on different levels and didn't have neatly resolved, tie-in-a-bow endings (especially Doubt). Both would start conversation and linger in your thoughts. Seven Pounds was kind of confusing to me in the beginning--you had to figure out what was happening as the movie went along. Not typical Will Smith fare, by any means--but he was excellent in it, of course. And Doubt--left the final interpretation or verdict up to the viewer. (Some people really dislike that, but I liked it--left me pondering.)

Anyways, some really interesting movies lately! :):)

Leah got to running late yesterday and never popped on by for her timers. She'll pick them up later on. They're not going anywhere--hehe!

Supposed to get up into the mid-40s today!! Quiet day for me and my salt water. :)

Thursday-2pm

Leah and my timers arrived yesterday! Leah plans to use two of them at work with her new job making teeth. Yes--she has been being trained in on a trial basis and is doing quite well--naturally! :):) There are a couple of parts of the process that need to be timed and now she won't forget and let them go too long or start too early. Nice!

Mine are in their new positions--at the computer (so I don't go over an hour)--two at the craft table (one for the hour and the other so that I won't go over ten minutes on a video)--and my original one by my chair to remember to take my pills all day.

You can tell the new season is here. The earth has shifted and the sun comes all the way to the back of my apartment in the morning. Here I caught Miss Karma lounging in the morning sun--way back by my desk! Spring is here!
I saw on the news that they said there seems to be an unprecedented number of geese this year--huge flocks! Did they have exceptional breeding conditions this winter? Or could it be that because of the flooded river they have larger spots to gather together? Or that because of all the excess waterways the first geese have just hung around longer so that there are these huge flocks now with the additional geese arriving? Or do you think that maybe the geese might instinctively know about the flooding--which is good for them for fattening up on their way north? Interesting to ponder.

I watched The Secret Life of Bees and Frozen River last night. Very different kinds of movies--and I really loved them both for different reasons. Frozen River might not be everybody's cup of tea--quite stark, I guess you could say, but not unrealistic. They both touched my heart.

The Secret Life Of Bees:
Haunted by the death of her mother, 14-year-old Lily (Dakota Fanning) escapes the dreary life she lives on her father's farm and heads to Tiburon, S.C., with her friend and caregiver, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), setting off on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Set amidst the hotbed of racial tensions in the South in the 1960s, Gina Prince-Bythewood's dramatic tale is based on the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd.

Frozen River:
On a Mohawk reservation on the Canadian border, Ray (Melissa Leo, in an Oscar-nominated role) teams with widowed tribe member Lila (Misty Upham) to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Although the work provides the women with much-needed money, each trip puts them in danger. How long will their luck hold before the authorities close in? Charlie McDermott co-stars in this drama nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.

Anyways, Leah is stopping by sometime to pick up her three timers. The only thing I got done yesterday was to slowly put away all that glorious stash--hehe! Today I am washing clothes and it is 40 degrees! Nice! Have a great day!

Wednesday-1:45pm

Once every year or two--and this time it's been closer to two years, we think--Leah and I go wild! What a day!! Look at this haul!!

We went all over the place--the battery store, Lowes, Menards, Sam's Club, Bed Bath and Beyond, JoAnn's, and K&Krafts! Well, Leah actually went in to Menards, Sam's, and BB&B without me so I could rest up for the craft stores. So funny--we were still almost like we were shopping together because we talked on the phone while she was in the store half the time--hehe!

I got a battery for my old Polder timer, new foam rollers (the ones I was using for the birthday cards were coming apart), another board for shelves (and we had them cut it up for us again), hooks to hold our craft sheets (oven liners), and bulbs for my silver lamps (tada! I have light over my art table again!!).

Then we hit JoAnn's!! Talk about sales! 25-50% off on soooo many things! We got paper, ribbons, yarn, lace, all kinds of embellishments, a set of acrylic blocks for clear stamps, two sets of clear stamps...a ton of goodies!! I spent all of my birthday money, we spent all of our craft account money (Leah puts in $20 a month), and part of it was for my birthday, too, Leah said. [And--don't worry--I still have money saved out for the dentist. :):) ]

Leah worked on cards before we left. She loved the idea I had for using up the leftover paper from the bookcards. She made eight cards--had them almost done before we left in the afternoon and finished them up after we finally made it home around 8:30pm. (Dagan was gone out of town for work overnight--so it was girl's day yesterday--hehe!)

I love the cards she made!
Last night Leah put up the 3M hooks and hung our craft mats (which are really oven liners--work great because nothing sticks to them).

I don't remember the last time I saw the top of this cabinet! hehe!

She also sat and sanded the board pieces while we watched The Tale of Despereaux.

Despereaux (voiced by Matthew Broderick) is different from other mice: He reads books, has ears too big for his too-small body and loves the human Princess Pea (Emma Watson). With his friend, a rat named Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), Despereaux sets out to escape the castle dungeon and win the girl of his dreams. Sigourney Weaver, William H. Macy and Kevin Kline also lend their voices to this adaptation of Kate DiCamillo's Newberry Medal-winning books.

We actually hated it! Very dark, filled with negative stereotypes, disjointed plot, ugly characters, and we felt it was not teaching good lessons (like the fat, stupid girl who lived her life being envious, dreaming of crowns and fancy clothing, who stole from the princess and was a generally unlikeable person--was suddenly rewarded in the end--even by the princess--no real explanations??) If there was a chance to actually show a moral--they leapt past it every time. Now, neither Leah nor I have ever read the books, so I don't know if the story was just ruined by this movie production or what? But the movie--neither of us would recommend it at all.

Anyways, this is why we got a board for an extra shelf. Now we have a narrow spot perfect for papers!

And we have an extra shelf for inside the cherry cabinet, too. Couldn't put it in yet--didn't have any more of the little shelf holders and it will need to be cut back in width or we won't be able to close the door--hehe! Have to wait until Leah can unearth her saws, etc, this summer. :)

I haven't even put everything away yet. We had to stick all the little things in this wild complementary bag I got from some company--can't remember now--One Spirit maybe? Karma was way too interested in all the ribbons and yarn, of course. This way she couldn't destroy any of our precious goodies.

What a day! We had such a great time, are so excited to play with all of this, and thrilled that we now know exactly where to put away each and every little thing--hehe! I still can't get over the sale prices on a lot of the things we bought! Awesome!! Ahhhhhhhh! I'm sure we'll do it again in another year or two.

Today--exhausted and sore--but quite a late happy, happy, happy birthday to me, eh? Big old smile plastered on my face today. :):)

Tuesday-9am

My goodness! Leah is on her way over already--so this will be quick. Yesterday was like Christmas over here! I got a big envelope full of ribbons and lace from Merrie in the CBP group. Look at all the fun piled here! Thanks so much, Merrie. I will try to put them to good use, of course. :):)

And my order of the re-inkers or refills came, too! Got a few new ink pads also. Badly needed the refills before I could continue working on the birthday cards I started. Not enough ink on the pads for those foam rollers to work really well. Now I will be all set--tada!
Then I kind of started another project. Because of putting together the thank you cards--well, I wanted to make up a batch of cards using that basic method. I have all these little hunks of pretty paper leftover from the bookcards I make from 12 X 12 inch paper--and now I have a great way to use them to make cards, right? So I just picked out paper and folded some card stock (the white and tan). But now I can go back and finish the birthday cards first.

Late at night--Miss Karma sitting on me in my chair--without a flash so I can capture the real Karma nobody sees but me--ROFL!!

The look of love, eh?

Contentment.

Well, I don't have any more time today--more tomorrow. I hope we have a great day running errands and shopping! :):)

Monday-1pm

Late last night I felt a little motivated and made a couple of thank you cards. Not motivated enough to video anything, tho--hehe!

I was just thinking I'd start and probably not finish right then...just maybe pick out the paper and ribbon...
...but after I got going--I did finish--hehe! I still have a couple more I'd like to make, too, from my birthday last month. Not good pictures--was late at night and dark. I should have double-checked before I sealed them away in envelopes, I guess, eh?

Felt pretty well yesterday...

...just tired.

By tomorrow we're supposed to just hit 40 for a couple of days. I didn't see any weather reports this weekend. Was watching an Oz marathon on Saturday and a Monk marathon on Sunday--hehe! Guess I need to get caught up today on what's happening with the second cresting. :)

Saturday-11:45am

Karma likes to talk to herself--in the hallway by the bathroom or in the bathroom--and listen to the slight echo. Here I caught her meowing away in the hallway--on her back! What a goof!

Supposed to stay in the low 30's for a few days. Good. Slower melting as the river recedes. Things will have to stay as is until the second cresting, I suppose. When I was out and about it was strange to see sandbags around the post office in Moorhead and lanes of traffic still closed off by huge mounds of sand on Interstate 94 near the river.

It's a difficult thing to wrap your mind around--that we could turn around and have a second crest near the height of the first record-breaker. The people are just recovering from the first flood. We really need something permanent built up here, that's for sure. I hope we can finally get some federal help. The cost to business up here to close for days on end, making 5 million sandbags, the national guard, shipping pumps, ambulances and helicopters from all over to move hospital patients and senior citizens, all the equipment, people losing sleep for days, volunteers from all over, feeding and housing evacuees/volunteers--and that's not counting the homes lost, cleanup, and all the damages from the flood to be dealt with afterwards. They even dug out the sand/clay from some of the school yards. The people were absolutely fantastic!! But they're exhausted. I hope the second cresting isn't as bad.

This coming week Leah and I are probably going to run around doing errands and shopping--and skip craft day until the following week. Probably Tuesday Leah said. And I should be feeling pretty much back to normal by that time, I'm sure. :):)

Friday-11:15am

Beautiful sunny morning! 25 degrees, but no wind coming my way--so Miss Karma is having a wonderful time on the porch. There are two flies out there!!??

Leah couldn't make it to bring me to the appointment yesterday, but she did come over and did a much better job than I had done of shoveling away the snow from in front of the garage door so I could get the car out. Was terrible stuff--ice and snow. Couldn't push that heavy crusted over stuff using my foot with the shovel--had to lift it--so my bad arm is a bit sore today.

Anyways, made it over to the appointment and they had forgotten to write me down. I was worked in. Didn't take too long, tho. The oral surgeon said all looked like it was healing well. The biopsy showed that it was the slow acting cyst that he thought it was--so shouldn't be any problems. If I notice any swelling or anything unusual--come back. Otherwise--all done, finish all my meds, and just let it heal up. :)

Since the swelling started to go down on Wednesday I have been really feeling better every day. Might feel more like myself by by next week, eh? :):)

I stopped at the bank and the post office on the way home. Leah called as I was leaving the bank--she had come over thinking I would be home already. I told her the car is still not wanting to start right away--getting worse. Instead of 2-3 times it was 4 and 5 times yesterday. I almost thought I was going to end up stranded someplace and she was going to have to come and get me. So--we need to get the car in and checked to see what the problem is. It is just dead--dead--dead--and then will suddenly turn over. May be the starter or something?

Anyways, I got to visit with Leah for a while before she had to get home to make lasagna--hehe! She'll probably make it over for crafts next week--maybe Tuesday. We have some errands we could run one day or the same day, too. :)

I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night! Wonderful movie!

After coming within one question of winning 20 million rupees on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" 18-year-old Mumbai "slumdog" Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) is arrested on suspicion of cheating. While in custody, Jamal regales a jaded police inspector (Irfan Khan) with remarkable tales of his life on the streets, as well as the story of Latika (Freida Pinto), the woman he loved and lost. Danny Boyle's film won a Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Picture.

I had no idea what it was about, to be honest. Didn't even know it was based on a story involving the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". Was a fascinating movie! The kids were amazing!

Got my grocery order coming for the month between 12-2pm. Have nine episodes of Oz to watch this weekend. Am hoping to be hit with the restlessness to make something pretty soon--then I'll know I am truly feeling myself--hehe! Have a great weekend!! :):)

Thursday-11:30am

I seemed to get over the hump yesterday with the swelling--finally! Gone down a lot since then. I have a day and a half left of antibiotics. Leah is taking me over for my post-op checkup this afternoon. Just a quick note today. :):) More tomorrow.

Wednesday-2:30pm

Laid down for a nap yesterday at 12:30pm and woke up at 7pm. When I do sleep--I sleep! hehe! Tomorrow afternoon Leah is taking me over for my post-surgical check up.

I'm wondering if this strange annoying taste in my mouth might not be from the antibiotics? I'm on some heavy duty combo pills of some kind since the surgery.

All is going well up here. I heard some "non-essential" businesses opened back up today. The river is slowly receding--and my cheek, too--ROFL!! With the dikes in place, we're already pretty much prepared for the next crest, eh? Depending on how high it goes. Well, we're ahead of the game for next time, anyways.

That's it from zombie-lady in Fargo. :):)