Tuesday-11:15am

First of all, before I forget--I wanted to post some links. I originally saw information about this on Oprah and haven't been able to stop thinking about it--because of Dagan, of course, and the many people who could benefit from being able to literally grow their own replacement parts! What a world, eh? :):)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/22/sunday/main3960219.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhi4Q8EDTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9hEFUpTVPA&NR=1

I did make just a few more cards...

...knowing that I won't be able to for a while. Leah is coming over this afternoon and we are going to begin on handmade paper--and that takes up the whole craft table for drying when Leah is here to help. :):) Oh--and I'll be making videos of the process for youtube.

Last night I sat and divided up my ribbon and lace box into four different plastic bags. That took quite a while--a lot of rolling involved--which was endlessly fascinating to Miss Karma. Anything whatsoever that reminds her of a string is meant to be chewed upon, right? Wrong, Missy!

I was up all night again--had a two hour nap--and here I am. Caroline is coming pretty soon, so this will be quick. I did make another video of the finished cards for youtube. Been raining again and cool. I don't mind this cool spring weather, of course. Been sleeping with the bedroom window open! :):) Busy day today! Later...

Monday-11pm

Caught Karma (long ago this morning before I went to bed) washing her feet in the sunlight.

She gave me this look like she does when I interrupt her private spying at the window--hehe! Cat disgust.

Obviously, I slept all day. Didn't get to sleep until 8:30am and when I got up it was almost 6pm! Discombobulated. :):)

Sunday-3:30pm

I put out Karma's "outside" food and water on the porch a couple of days ago.

Since then, if the porch door is closed, she begs to go out just to drink a little water or munch down a few morsels of kibble--because, as we all know, it tastes so very much better than that inside stuff--ROFL!! :):)

CashWise came and got all the food put away for the month. I think I forgot to tell you that I made another video--on the Thank You cards I am working on?

And I know I forgot to mention that Chuck and Michal's bid was accepted on a house so they should know soon if it goes thru the bank, etc. Then they would be moving out like in June! Dagan and Leah will be on their own again over there. :)

It is so warm today! Even tho it only says it is 61 degrees--it feels warmer because I am getting very little wind. Sun is actually out and the skies are blue. Keeps up like this and it might turn green up here yet--hehe!

Saturday-1pm

I worked on the Thank You cards off and on again all day and into the night. :)

Miss Karma caught the last sliver of sun around noonish.

Here are the cards--not all the way done, but getting close!

The two that had crystals drying didn't get taped together with carpet tape last night.

I'll do that today--and work on the insides--at least of the Thank You cards. I made more than I needed, so I can turn them into any kind of card I want, I guess.

I was just having soooo much fun!

Reminded me of when I was a little kid in art class...

...or when I went to that art camp that one summer in grade school...

...ahhhh! Had such a good time. We made papier mache puppets...

...macaroni necklaces...

...pasta collages...

...clunky beaded bracelets...

...and finger paintings!! All the classics! There were many more, but that's all I can remember now almost 50 years later. Anyways, I am having a great time making cards that don't all look exactly the same and playing with the embellishments! hehe!

I was on the phone--as expected--most of the morning yesterday. Got a form from the school loan folks (eight pages). Talked with two different billing departments about the oral surgery bills. Funny--I went to the same place, sat in the same waiting room--but the bills are from two different places? One is from the hospital ($149.99) and the new bill is from the clinic ($510.00). The lady from hospital billing told me that bill is paid off completely by Medicare??? I said I had a bill in my hand, but she said it was all paid--so I am not sending any money on that smaller bill. If she was wrong, I'm sure I'll get another bill next month, right?

The other billing department said it was okay if I made payments. So--got that done yesterday. Well, I still have to go thru the eight pages and fill out forms & make copies for the school loan. Hopefully have that ready to mail by Monday. :) It's not that I don't deal with all of the red tape repeatedly--it's that I deal with the red tape repeatedly--chuckle!

Today I have my grocery order from CashWise coming between 2-4pm. Got to get moving! Upper 50's today and dry! Have a great day!!

Friday-5am

I know! Up at 5am? I've actually been awake since 3:30am--but I went to bed at 8:30pm. I just have odd hours sometimes, don't I?

Anyways, I did manage to work on starting some Thank You cards yesterday. Oh--and I posted a very short video of the finished set of birthday cards, too.

Karma at 4am--wondering why I was up if it was too dark to feed the fish and give her her treat (her tablespoon of canned cat food). She had gotten all excited and ready to start the day but when I wasn't feeding critters--went back to snooze on her chair.

I got another bill from Merit Care hospital yesterday. This one was for $510.00--to be paid in full within 30 days--or call our Patient Account Department. Since I actually live on $778.00 a month, I will have to call them today and arrange payments--and find out if this is in addition to the first bill of $149.99 or the complete bill? Here I had heard bad things about the poor coverage on Medicare and had been all impressed--too soon, obviously. Oh well--such is life, eh? ROFL!!

Also got a bill for $197.31 for one of my government school loans. I deal with each of those twice a year--every year--for the rest of my life or until I win the lottery--hehe! I should have consolidated, I guess. I have learned to wait until the actual bills come and not try to deal with them ahead of time. (They actually throw the information away if it comes early--no lie! Even a week or two early!?! Bizarre!).

So--that's what I will be humbly doing today--and probably a lot of waiting on hold--hehe! :)

Thursday-11:15am

Karma spent most of the day inside of the clothing rack--big surprise--hehe!

I kept plugging away on the birthday cards and finally finished them last night! TaDa!!
I got the clothes switched for summer.

I have some thank you cards to make next. And then next week--probably Tuesday again--Leah and I are planning on starting with the making of our red handmade paper for our Christmas cards.

Caroline called and she is still down with the flu. Doesn't think it is the swine flu, tho. So she'll come next Tuesday instead--if she's well, of course.

So--what's on the agenda for today? Thank you cards! :)

Wednesday-5:30pm

Leah came over for crafts. Made a wedding card (and I forgot to get a picture--sorry!) and helped me get my clothing rack down to my apartment from the storage room. Twice a year. Karma gets excited to jump inside, of course.

So, I have to switch the summer and winter clothes again. :)

I have slowly been constructing the birthday cards.
Slept a split shift last night. Fell asleep by 8pm and was up at 1am. Then was back in bed at 7:30am and slept till 1:30pm. Strange hours. Oh well. Slept well. It's a dreary, dark, rainy day today. Was good sleeping weather, but has done nothing for my motivation--hehe! Feels like one of those lazy days. :) Maybe I'll get more done tomorrow--hehe!

Tuesday-10:30am

Was one of those puttering days. I washed clothes, balanced the checkbook, figured out the budget and bills for May, worked on the grocery order for May, caught up on half of my emails, made up 3 months of my weekly schedules, read magazines, finished a book, and baked a cake. The day flew by and I felt satisfied that I had gotten quite a bit done at the end of the day. :)

Karma was sprawled under the art table. I snapped a picture...

...and then it was like she had to acknowledge that I was looking at her--so she pawed the wall pretending not to notice me. Do you think she is starting to perform for the camera? hehe!
Caroline just called and she's sick. Went to bed feeling fine and has been in the bathroom all morning, poor thing. We'll reschedule. (Hope she doesn't have any friends who went to Mexico for spring break!?)

So, I am going to call Leah and tell her she can come over any time today to make her wedding card. Bye! :)

Monday 10:45am

Was a dreary, chilly day yesterday and it rained all day.

Today is dry and dark, but looks like the sun is trying to peek out. Never saw any snow here because it went north of us. 39 degrees right now, but supposed to hit 50 today. Good day to wash clothes, budget for May, clean out my computer files, and make up some more of my weekly schedule sheets (they keep me on task--habit I picked up from working in an office and when I was in college). Feels like a good day!! :)

Sunday-Teddy Bear On The Bible

This is what I remember about my first religious crisis or spiritual epiphany.

I was five years old and in first grade at Northeast Christian School in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. (I went to parochial school for the first two years and then went to public school in Fridley starting in third grade.) Anyways, when it was really horrible weather we had recess inside. I remember the playroom had a wall that had a long counter with shelves underneath with lots of cubbies for toys and books. The bell went off and we were supposed to put the toys away and return to class. I was taking too long and had to hurry, so I quickly tossed this teddy bear up on top of the counter and rushed to get to class. The teacher grabbed my arm and dragged me back for a good close look at my sin. I had tossed that teddy bear on top of the big open bible on the counter. I thought I was in trouble for not putting it down in a cubby--but it was considerably worse than I ever could have imagined. The teacher lectured me about how I had defaced God's property, insulted God with my careless attitude, the bible was God's word, I had no respect,....etc....etc....etc. She informed me I was going straight to hell and I had better change my ways. She had me move the teddy bear to a cubby, apologize to God, and sent me off to class.

I was absolutely destroyed! I couldn't stop thinking about it! I had quite accidentally condemned my soul to hell. I had been in such a happy mood, loved school, and hadn't meant to do anything to upset God at all. I knew I'd make more mistakes--I always did. God was mad at me and would probably never forgive me. My life was over--done!

When I got home from school I nervously told my mom about how I was going to hell and why. She just laughed. Poo-pooed the entire incident. Since she didn't go to church except for Easter and Christmas I didn't figure she was exactly an authority on all things biblical--so I went off to my room, crawled under the covers, and mourned my loss of God until I had no more tears and just those hiccupy breaths. I laid there--limp and lifeless. And then I "heard" inside my head--"That's not your God."

Now, those of you that know me have heard about GA (my guardian angel) for most of my adult life. I had no idea where this information that just popped into my head came from--but never questioned it. Looking back--that was probably the first time I consciously remember having one of those inner conversations with GA (not that I was even aware that was what it was at the time--at all). You know how they say something has the ring of truth? My chats with GA have always been like bells of truth ringing--(whether I like what he has to say or not--hehe!).

Anyways, a long silent "thought conversation" took place as I laid there in bed. I was "told" that God doesn't judge only by the outside, but by the inside. Not just by what I did--but why I did it. Only God knows all the whys--knows everything--and that's why I shouldn't judge people only by what I see and hear. I had no evil intent toward God when I tossed the teddy bear on the bible. God knew that. My God is a loving God. My God has miraculous love that is bigger and stronger than all the hate or anger or fear in the whole world. But I was also "told" the teacher was not lying. That is how she sees God and that is who God really is to her--inside. Everybody's whys or insides are different. And only God knows your insides--your secret, safe place. I can't adequately describe how the concepts flowed through me or the intense relief and the love I felt all through my body and soul. The information was conveyed very simply and a lot of it was almost as visuals. But I have never forgotten it.

Seems like I have spent my lifetime trying to regain the innocent absolute faith of that five-year-old who believed she was forgiven. :):)

Sunday-1:45pm

It's a dark, drizzly day and they say it could turn to snow tonight. So much for spring--hehe!

Yesterday I was working on the birthday cards off and on all day. I made a couple videos for youtube, too.
Now I have to slowly put these all together over the coming days.

Keeps me out of trouble, right? hehe!

I am also going thru all my pictures and all of my favorites over the next couple weeks and cleaning house--getting rid of the stuff I don't need before Dagan makes a back-up for me. No small task before me, I tell you! I have thousands of both!!

I'll keep this short because I plan to be back later to post again. :)

Saturday-2pm

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend. :)

For Zelia in South Africa--these are Dagan's machines for sending his pacemaker information via the telephone. The one on the left he got with his first pacemaker when he was 12 years old. The one on the right is the newer model that he got a few years ago.
With the new one he makes the sample and then plugs directly into a land-line phone cord to send it, I believe. Dagan is 34 years old now, so he just does his thing and I guess I haven't paid really close attention to how this new one works.

Zelia--feel free to email me. :)

Say--I saw Mary Tyler Moore on the Bonnie Hunt show and she was talking about the aptitude test she took in school when she was young. I forgot all about that! MTM said she was supposed to be a model or in the armed forces--hehe! I remember being told I could probably do whatever I wanted to--but I'd probably be the most suited to becoming a forest ranger. How funny!! I think that was back in grade school or early junior high, but I can't remember exactly.

Years later when I was tested and tested for workman's comp--they kind of told me the same thing--that I could pretty much do whatever I wanted to. (Ignoring my arm injury, of course--hehe!) And they announced that they would not help me with schooling for retraining because "I was too smart to send to school". Apparently I have some kind of natural ability to learn by osmosis! Who knew? ROFL!! Where was that mysterious innate osmosis ability when I went back to school later!!?? (I decided to go to college on my own since they wouldn't help me and I couldn't do physical labor anymore.) Karma just came in off the porch to see what I was chuckling about to myself at the computer--hehe!

Anyways, we're back to rain and snow. We didn't get the snow here, but it was nearby, I guess. Was like 30 degrees last night. Right now it is 49 degrees. With little wind coming our way--I have the porch doors open for Miss Karma--for a little while, anyways.

John--I promise that either later today or tomorrow I will post about my first religious crisis. :):) I wanted to make it a separate post.

Friday-1:30pm

Well, today it is back to 41 degrees, dark, and drizzly. Good thing I love variety, eh--hehe! I like the cool weather, but Miss Karma was annoyed and crabby for a while. Took it out on me--complaining, racing about, threatening to grab my legs (she has no claws), and just generally huffing about. Obviously, she thinks I am a god that can control the weather. Humph! If that were the case, there'd be no hot sticky weather all summer long and the sun worshiping, heat-loving folks would hate me! ROFL!!

I've been working on the birthday cards. Did the purple and the green so far. Several of my nails on my left hand are green. :) It soaks into my clear nail polish--hehe! I've been scrubbing off the foam roller, letting it dry overnight, and then doing the next color. The pigment ink stains more and is sticky--so I wanted to just use one roller for pigment inks.

Honestly--I might skip today and do the blue ones on Saturday and give my arm a rest--hehe! But when I do the blue ones I will make a video. Promise. :):)

I got my official notice in the mail that I will be getting my $250 from the stimulus package by the end of May. I am going to get my lamp fixed!! The glass shield broke about two years ago--no lie! I need to get a new glass shield for the bulb and buy new bulbs. I even searched online to find local dealers who carry the German Holtkotter lamps--and found three--tada!

This lamp is the only really expensive, extravagant thing I ever bought and it is sure a pain to maintain--hehe! But, as a reader and writer, I absolutely love it. I will be sooooo excited when it is finally working again!! Even has a dimmer! I honestly just forgot about it for a long, long time. Had a light that worked, right?

Wow! I will actually have room again on my little endtable! I've had these two craft boxes stacked here for so long I can't remember what it is like not to have them there--hehe! I have two of these silver desk lamps and I had the bulb burn out on this one and then put the second one there. (Why I had no light over my art table all winter. Just purchased bulbs for the silver lamps recently when Leah and I were shopping--tada!) Silly how I just adapt to whatever and it becomes normal. :):)
Anyways, I am hoping that in June my Antique Brass Holtkotter Halogen Pharmacy Floor Lamp will be back in action! tada!!

I looked over at Leah when she was here and said--Oh No! I forgot about those two boxes! Where will I put them? ROFL!!! Never fear--I'll find a place again for them--hehe!

Miss Karma was lolling about on the porch most of the very warm day yesterday.
Happy girl!

Have a really good day!! :):)

Thursday-4:15pm

Finally I am back online--tada! Spring has arrived. We not only hit 70 degrees today--it is 78 right now!! We had almost like holes in the lawn from all the standing water and the workmen were here filling in the holes with dirt a couple days ago. The street repair is going to be something else this year from all the water damage--but life is moving on!!

Let's see--what has been happening? Oh--I guess Dagan went down just for the stress test and not his regular checkup. At the stress test they decided to send him over to his pacemaker people because they were concerned his battery is getting low on his pacemaker (he has several months left--don't worry). They already knew that and have been following Dagan closely with the monthly phone checks on his pacemaker. He has his regular checkup the end of May and then they'll decide on a time for him to get his pacemaker replaced this summer.

The desk computer and the laptop were both out of commission. I am sure glad I waited for Dagan and Leah to come over yesterday and check it out before I called CableOne--hehe! This desk computer was free from Dagan's last job and it had two brains (drives?). Well, the spare brain died. ??? Plus, my pages were all strange looking because I needed to upload the new Internet Explorer 8. They rebooted the modem and then the laptop worked again. That's all I really understand of what they did. Dagan started up a program to get me more space on the one brain the desk computer has left--and deleted all my temporary files? No clue what is gone now--hehe! All I know is that it is working again! TaDa!!! Funny how cut off from the world you feel without Internet!

Miss Karma--she's been in seventh heaven with the warm weather. Unlike myself, she loves the heat. We've been spending more time on the porch, of course. :)

I have been working on the Soul Coaching book, reading, writing letters, watching movies (Dagan and Leah told me to get Run, Lola, Run--interesting older foreign movie that has three versions of the same time period), working on the birthday cards a little, and all the usual day to day stuff. Leah came over first yesterday and then Dagan came over after work. Made some rice, chicken in a hoisin & tamari sauce, and broccoli for dinner. Always love having them over. :):)
Anyways, I am back! Happy to be blogging again--hehe!

Monday-4:30pm

I'm not sure if the blog will actually work today. The page is all out of whack and I could only put three out of the four pictures up. (Tried five times to get the last one on--oh well.) This is what I am looking at most of the time right now.

Anyways, I'm going to see if I can actually get a blog up today. If you don't hear from me for a while it is just because of computer problems so don't worry. :) The laptop won't work, either! Good thing Dagan and Leah are on their way home today from Minneapolis. I just got a text from Leah--all went well. Dagan is probably going to need a new pacemaker this summer. They'll let me know when they are back home again. :)

I finally was working on some cards last night. Didn't do any video yet. Was just clear embossing more paper parts I had cut out for the birthday cards. Decided to throw out the multi-colored ones I had done. Just didn't like them at all. Have another plan for the plain colored ones. :)

I also spent some time the past couple days working on the Soul Coaching book (other picture--hehe!). Been a while, but I am plugging away at it. Am working on writing about the life-changing days, epiphany moments. I have had so many of those--might take me a while to finish this section!

Karma and I spent some time in the afternoon on the porch. I was reading and reading. Finished another of Caroline's books. Miss Karma was watching the world go by--but later came to sit with me. Probably to keep warm--ROFL!!

I keep losing contact with blogger so I'm going to publish while I am connected and cross my fingers. Hope this works? :)

Sunday-12:30pm

Funny--I put the chair back to its spot at the table and that must have gotten Miss Karma thinking about different spots for repose. I found her in her stroller in the dark bedroom last night. She hasn't shown any interest in sleeping in there for months.

And I have never actually found her in the bathroom. Not sure why not? Just has always been a place for her to listen to her voice echo or drink out of the toilet and run. Found her in the dark last night--sitting like a little Buddha on the bathroom rug. That was a first.

You wouldn't think there would be any firsts left in an apartment this small after four years--ROFL! Karma has never been very interested in the bathroom or bathtub, tho. Has always preferred the hallway for her lounging for some reason--not the soft, fluffy bathroom rugs. The mysterious Karma mind...hehe!

Anyways, the antibiotics are doing their thing while I, basically, have not been doing much of anything besides the normal daily routine stuff. I finished the DVDs from Netflix and have been watching more of Caroline's Monk DVDs. I have great empathy for Mr. Monk--ROFL!!

Speaking of Monk-ish tendencies--everything Leah purchased for her new job is working great! Timers, cleaning brush, apron, plastic reusable marker tags to match up orders...so proud of her! Her boss wanted some help on getting organized--well, Leah will do an excellent job. I told her that pretty soon he will not remember how he ever used to get along without all these time savers! And I am sure she will come up with more as she is gradually trained in on each of the steps and processes used in making teeth. You just never know what skills you might pick up in your lifetime, do you?

Meanwhile--the computer is really being ornery. Screens won't open and won't open--but sometimes suddenly change their mind and cooperate the next second. Can't seem to get on to Facebook very often (can't get to my facebook farm at all) or my new Twitter spot? Maybe it was going on Twitter that messed up my computer? Not sure.

I decided that I will have Dagan look at it first this coming week before I call the cable company. He can often fix things--or at least he might know if I need to call CableOne or if it is my computer or my modem, you know? It mostly seems to be a problem of not being able to connect with the Internet to get to a new page, you know? But the desk computer itself has problems not wanting to boot up and connect with the Internet in the first place--that's why I can't shut it off. So--who knows? Not me, that's for sure. It all just gives me a headache, to be honest--hehe!

Another dark, cloudy, cool day. We're supposed to hit 50 again today. If it wasn't so windy it would feel warmer--but the hot weather will come plenty soon enough. I like it cooler, actually. I'd rather bundle up a bit and go sit out now and read on the porch when it's 50 degrees than be outside when it's hot, sticky, and humid! Any day! Any day! Definitely a Northern girl, eh? :):)

Have a good one! Where's my sweatshirt.....

Saturday-2pm

Well, I finally accomplished something extra yesterday--got a bucket of hot water & a rag, went out to the porch...

...and cleaned off the winter's residue of sand, rain, and snow off my metal chair and table. Tada!
Now I can sit outside on the porch again on a nice day. Murphy's Law, tho--hehe! I clean them off and there's a high of 44 degrees today--chilly! With the metal furniture you need it to be like in the 70's before you want to sit on it--ROFL!! That's why my other chair is padded--hehe!

Other than that I was a zombie all day. I think I got the antibiotics just in time--swelling again some yesterday and that makes the jaw hurt more. Today is much better. :):)

I have been having so much fun moving the chair around the room for Karma's entertainment. I do this every few months. She doesn't seem to get tired of it. This was Karma during the night (was up until almost 5am)--peeking at me from behind the chair.
She jumps off, races around, and leaps thru the armhole so she can make the chair spin.
The arm of the rocker stopped it so it could only spin from side to side--but that didn't seem to diminish the entertainment value--chuckle! She's my entertainment.


Since the desk computer has been working again it has been really, really, really slow. Feels like I am back to the days of dial up. I am not sure if it is the Internet service or my computer. I've gotten a lot of "can't connect to the Internet" pages? If it lasts more than a couple of days I'll check with CableOne. While I have been typing my blog right now I keep getting the red line at the bottom off and on--saying "could not connect with blogger.com" and not to publish. It's been coming and going. When you live in an apartment complex, they come to hook somebody else up and they have screwed up my cable wiring three times in the four years I've lived here--by accident. The trouble was in the cable room. Duh! Could be that again, I suppose.


Computers! You really miss them when they aren't working right, don't you? I didn't think I'd ever even have one and now I am lost without it! Hasn't life changed so much over the last 50 years!!?? Mostly for the better, tho. :):)


Dagan and Leah are making a quick trip down to Minneapolis this weekend. Dagan has a check-up (heart & pacemaker) on Monday and he is having a stress test this time. Hope all is well, of course. :):) I had thought I might possibly be able to go with for a quick visit (we would have gone for the whole weekend then) but definitely wasn't feeling up to it with all this swelling mouth setback. Nope--just home taking my pills and being a good girl--hehe! :):)