Thursday-8:30am

I knew my Dick Blick order was coming soon, so a couple of days ago I got out this tin (thank you, Ruby!)...

...and prepared it for the ten small tubes of Winsor Newton watercolor paints. These are half pans and the Fisherman's Friend tin is the same size as an Altoids tin.
The order came yesterday! tada!

I have been curious about ATC cards for a long time. Not for the reason other people buy them (to make little pieces of art to trade and sell)--but I thought they would go well attached to the front of a card. Could paint on them or decoupage them--whatever. Dick Blick had a wide variety of them for me to play with--$1.21 each. And I couldn't resist buying tiny envelopes--hehe!
Between these and the thin coasters I bought I will have something really different to do with card fronts, eh?

Speaking of decoupage--I got a jar of this matte varnish, too. I read that this can be used kind of like decoupage and isn't shiny. Said could help attach dried flowers to handmade paper. ?? What the heck--worth a try, eh?
Got some more brush cleaner, too. I use this cake cleaner and conditioner with my watercolor brushes.

And here's the big purchase!
Most expensive brand of paints I have ever had. Very tiny tubes--hehe!

I checked and the plastic container would hold full pans nicely if it weren't for the plastic dividers. I decided to ask Leah, our clever tool girl, if she had a way of removing them. (Yup!)

Leah did call in the afternoon. We jumped the car. It started--tada!!

Leah drove it around, over to her place, and then over to a place where you can buy batteries. They tested the battery and the alternator and they were both fine. ???? They sold her this little do-dad that cleans the posts and clamps up. Which it needed, as you can see. Leah cleaned them all up, too.

BTW--here's Leah--with her straight hair! She's learned how to straighten it and loves it. The first time I saw her I was shocked to see her without her very curly hair--hehe! She only has to do it every 4-5 days--what freedom!

When she stopped at home she picked up her dremel/dremol (?). She carved out as much as she could with an exacto knife and then smoothed the remaining parts of the dividers away altogether! Now I can use this container to make a palette--or for something else altogether--who knows?

I set up the tiny Winsor Newton palette.

It's still drying--up high away from Miss Snoopy Pants.

Was a busy day. :):)

This morning I have to go out and check to see if the car still starts. If the battery drains again then there's a short someplace and we'd have to bring the car in again. But turns out it wasn't the battery. ??? Not sure how rapidly or slowly the battery had drained because it had just been parked in my garage for like a month. Wish me luck!

I have that appointment with my rheumatologist later this afternoon (3:50pm). So--more tomorrow--got to get going here. Another beautiful sunny 70 degree day today!!

Awesome! :):)

Wednesday-8:30am

I brought the footstool from the porch chair inside a few days ago just because Karma likes to sleep on it. You know how I like to switch things up--hehe! Normally when I cover the porch chair I put the footstool upsidedown on the chair first and then cover it with the plastic chair cover.

Well, yesterday I hadn't seen Karma for a couple of hours and couldn't find her anywhere. She does like to find places to sleep where I can't find her. [If you remember, she likes to play hide and seek at night--leaping from around corners and chairs--and I do the same to her. Yes--we still do play hide and seek sometimes.] Anyways, I made a quick search of all her known hiding places. When she knows I am searching for her she never makes a sound, either. Of course not--it would ruin the game.

This is where I finally found her. Curled up on the chair under the chair cover--hehe! She never misses a trick, does she?

The replacement border punch came!
Still is hard to punch and you have to stand up to do it--but it works! That bottom strip is cut off and thrown away--or saved for making paper.

It still makes a little dent by the two little double holes at the end of the punch, but this one works much better, as you can see. This was a linen paper, so it has a bit more threadiness to it. I think that is why the wispy edges here and there? Oh well--this punch does work. Even tho they didn't take it out of the package and try it for me first.

I still don't see why the pattern doesn't repeat normally? One small hole and then two on the other side? Makes for an uneven ruffle effect. But that is how it is shown on the front of the package. I still think it is a very pretty punch. :)

Today I have been blogging for three whole years! Wow! Hard to believe! The camera made the difference. :):)

I'm not sure if Leah is going to make it over today or not. She wasn't sure if she would still be over helping her mom or not. But if she doesn't make it over today (and we don't get to trying to jump the car) she said she'd bring me over for my doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon with my rheumatologist.

Sunny, damp morning. Hope it lasts today. :) Yesterday the sun was out for about 90 minutes in the morning--they even mentioned that on the news--hehe! Rained off and on during the day and was steadily pinging off the AC when I went to bed.

I opened the living room windows this morning and something was wrong. No wind. Barely a breeze. Funny how it feels so unnatural without the air moving up here. I have gotten so used to the wind since I moved up here. But--then I looked across the field to the trees over there and they are moving and shimmering away. The wind is there--just not coming my way this morning. All's right with the world. :):)

50 degrees. Karma is sprawled in the sun on the porch. Great morning to go work again on the book. Won't have to either fight the wind to keep the pages open or shut the window--hehe! :):)

Tuesday-8am--hypnosis & past life

My order finally arrived from Scrap Simply--ordered May 10th. I think they were waiting for a paper delivery? Anyways--more 12 X 12 inch papers on sale. I went for wild, colorful, and some stripes. (Saw online how easy it is to cut up striped paper and use them for borders on cards.)

Also got a little bit of ribbon. Didn't realize that if you ordered 2 yards that they are apparently pre-cut into 1 yard sections. Nice cloth ribbon, tho! :)
They had great prices! 25-65 cents a sheet for paper I'd pay 65-1.99 a sheet for at the local craft stores. And I can get two bookcard covers from each sheet with leftovers for making cards! Nice way for me to spend a small part of my stimulus check--hehe!

The sun suddenly emerged yesterday in the early evening. Sunny this morning, too. They're still predicting rain for today and tomorrow--but maybe it will miss us for at least part of the day?
Playing with the zoom--hehe!
I spent the entire morning working on the Soul Coaching book and listening to Carlos Nakai's native American flute. I have to agree with you, Serena. The chapter on Death--the third level where you are supposed to imagine your own death in different scenarios--was a little weird for me. Didn't do it.

I am not afraid of death. Have had a few close calls since I was a kid--drowning, tornado, etc. My life never flashed before my eyes and I had no regrets. Just calmly thought--Oh, so this is how I am going to die.

When I think about it--I am more afraid of not dying and being left alive in tremendous pain, to be honest. Like being burned or in a terrible car crash or something like that. But death--nope.

[Note: if you don't believe in past lives, out-of-body experiences and such--feel free to skip the rest of this post.]

I had my one out-of-body experience when Dagan was an infant (with GA)--awesome! Long story, but I was taken to a place where there were no physical bodies and nothing could be hidden. Everything about a soul was right there to be known--good and bad--and there was such love and understanding. I was taken there so I could forgive and gain perspective--right before Dagan ended up in the hospital. Looking back, I think GA knew he had to get through to me--get my soul in the right place--before Dagan ended up in the hospital dying and we found out about all the heart defects and they told us he wouldn't live, etc, etc. Therefore, I was spiritually focused--and GA and I were never more connected than back then for Dagan. :):)

And years later (maybe 1995?) under hypnosis I spontaneously went back to a lifetime where I had the backs of my knees sliced open so I couldn't run away and was being held down & raped while I bled to death--and I was pregnant big as a house--charming, right? But all I knew was I had been running, then terrible pain in my knees, and then I had pain in my stomach and my wrists. Then I kept skipping to being dead--hehe! (Do you blame me?!) The hypnotist kept trying to get me to go back and gather more information about what in the world was happening and who was doing this to me--but I just kept leaving and jumping to being dead--hehe! Very frustrating for the hypnotist, but hey--being dead was beautiful and peaceful. It filled my soul and lifted me up into such joy I can't even describe it. I didn't care who was doing whatever or why--just wanted to get to the dead part--ROFL!!

They say hypnosis can't make you do anything you don't want to. That was really true in my case--hehe! I think I died at least five times in his office chair that day--ROFL!!

Okay--as long as I told you that much--three of us had gone together to the hypnotist--a girl I worked with and her friend. We wanted to see if we had known each other in France in the 1500s. I had been having dreams about a lifetime back then and apparently many people I know in this lifetime--well, we were all in France together.

Anyways, we were all in the room. The other two girls were sitting quietly in chairs against the far wall while I had my session. It felt like they were supposed to be in there with me. Everything happens for a reason, right? Turned out there was a huge reason why I went to that particular lifetime. While I was being raped and killed over and over in the chair--(chuckle)--the two girls were the ones who were each separately actually remembering what was happening to me. They were both silently crying and staring at me--so each didn't know the other one was experiencing anything. The hypnotist had his back to them, so he never knew that was happening--and me--I just kept running--having stabbing pain in my knees--stomach and wrists--crying and panting in pain--and then became suddenly silent, breathing peacefully, and looking beatific, I guess. I thought it had been quite a failure of a session. I had no idea what I had been experiencing.

After we left the hypnotist--we all chatted about the experience. It was then that they told me and each other what they experienced. (Needless to say--it freaked us all out! We told the hypnotist later.) The girl I worked with--she remembered being a man in that lifetime and that she was raping me. Her friend had been his mother in that lifetime--and had held me down for him.

The backstory they remembered--I had been married off to an older man specifically to have an heir. (None of us had any clue as to what time period this was or where.) The mother had been his commoner mistress for decades and the son was the only male heir--illegitimate, but a male heir. Now that I came into the picture--and got pregnant right away--all the mother's years of working on this man to make her son his legal heir--gone! The son was more my age and had fallen in love with me--and yet hated me at the same time. They had even lived in his house with him and had all the privileges--until I came and they got booted out before he married me. They planned to make it look like I had been robbed and killed. The rape was just an added angry bonus for the son because I had scorned his advances. They remembered that they had been publicly hung later.

They both had their memories separately--and between the two of them that was the story. I only had the physical memory of the pain in my body--couldn't see any of what was happening. But because we all went together in this lifetime--and they remembered and were ashamed and in tears--I could forgive them. It was all about forgiveness.

And a week or so later, as I was waking up one morning, I got more of the story from GA. I think I have mentioned that GA isn't really an angel--but a guiding spirit and I have known him before. Well, in that lifetime GA was my handmaiden or whatever they call them. She and I had practically grown up together--she took care of my clothes, hair and such and we were fast companions and loved each other dearly. When I was given away in marriage to this older man, I insisted she come with me to my new home. She was my only friend.

I used to go on these walks alone by a river and GA worried about me because I was fearless in some respects--or naive, selfish, stubborn, and ignorant, some would say--hehe! On that day GA was secretly tailing me to keep an eye on me as she said she always did. But when they chased me, caught me, and sliced my legs at the knee--the whole time--she stayed hidden in the bushes--watching the whole thing. She was afraid to show herself because she knew they would have to kill her, too. She couldn't move from the position she was in--even to go get help--or she would be seen.

When they left me for dead--GA rushed to my side, crying. I went to that place--like when I jumped to being dead--but I remembered the baby--my innocent baby. I willed myself back into my body. Now I don't know what happened--if I asked GA to cut the baby out or I had gone into labor because of the trauma and birthed the baby--don't remember that part--but the baby lived and then I died. The baby was Dagan--and GA basically raised him in that lifetime. GA exposed the woman and her son and they were hung. Dagan was proclaimed this miracle child in that life, too! ROFL!! But he was very spoiled and revered because of it and grew into a selfish, arrogant man.

Kind of explains why Dagan and GA and I were sooo connected while I was raising him in this lifetime. And why I was so overly conscious of Dagan not being spoiled or selfish--hehe!

GA wanted to be forgiven for not trying to help me when I was attacked. Absolutely! GA is totally forgiven. Made me cry right now to even think GA would need my forgiveness for anything.

My goodness--didn't think I was going to tell that whole story. Oh well. I have always had dreams or visions of pieces of past lives--many years apart, but I have had a few of them. If they are just my imagination--well, if they lead to good things, that's okay with me, too. But with the two girls having visions/memories of the same thing at the same time--and such a bizarre story...and then getting additional information from GA later....???? I'm usually quite the doubting Thomas, but that made a 95% believer out of me. :):)

I asked a long, long time ago that I only have memories if they will help me with something in this life. No point otherwise. People can get lost in trying to remember everything and every lifetime--what a waste of time--IMHO, anyways. It would be like trying to go back and re-live every single day in this lifetime--duh! Unless I can gain some insight to help me on my current path.... :):)


Anyways, back to the real world--the current world--ROFL!! I spent the afternoon finishing the latest of Caroline's books I had been reading. Then read the first chapter of The Amber Spyglass in the evening.

I have had to write this all in a couple of hour sessions. It's already 11am! Half the day is gone--hehe! I hope you enjoyed my past life story. Real to me, but you can absolutely take it with a grain of salt. :):)

Monday-7:45am

I was trying to take a close up of Karma on my lap last night, but she kept throwing her head back and purring loudly. That's her sign for--Pet me, pet me, you know you want to. Where's your hand? I'm waiting. Come on--where's that hand? How's about a neck scratch?

Until she heard people in the hallway and froze.
Yesterday my big project was washing clothes. We're on our third dark, rainy day. Just light rain and cooler. Predicting this to keep up for a couple more days. I've been doing the salt inhaler, climbing the three flights of stairs with my creaky knees (hehe!), but forgot to have music on over the weekend. New habits take a while to get used to. So--right now I am going to use the salt inhaler for fifteen minutes while I check emails--and then I'll put on some music and work on the Soul Coaching book for a while. Start the week out right, eh? ;)

Sunday-7am

So hard to sneak up on her--hehe!

Well, let's see...thru emails and questions Dagan told me they have no idea when the chamber stretched out. The only way they can tell is with a cat scan so they have the 3-D picture of the heart--and he's never had a cat scan before. Could have been ten years ago--five years ago--or a new thing. But--he's doing really well right now, so she said they'd do another cat scan in about five years if nothing changes.

Personally, I think they are just giving a heads up to cover their bases, you know? Especially since Dagan has had both slower declines and a sudden crisis in the past. They're really not sure what to expect exactly--can't know anything for sure.

It's always been like this with Dagan. If they gave us the odds--the averages--what they would expect to happen--he has never done what they expected. Like right now--even with his pooched out chamber, he has higher oxygen saturation than most of the other Fontan people. Thank goodness Dagan lives outside the box, eh?

He's always had a lot of people praying for him, too. ;)

So, we tuck the information away in the back of our minds and basically forget it. He'll be getting a new pacemaker this fall. He's doing well. Life is good. :):):)

I was in bed at 7pm last night. Couldn't keep my eyes open. Up and down all night. Back pain mostly is the culprit the last couple days. So--any computer plans are definitely on hold and I will just do my stretches, take my pain pills, and wait it out. Haven't even read this weekend. Could maybe try to finish Caroline's book and get started on the Bookcrossing book. We'll see. I can guarantee you that Karma and I will hang out and she will make me laugh. And that I am in a good mood and feeling grateful for just about everything! :):):)

Have an absolutely wonderful day!

Saturday-7:45am

Good Morning!

I ordered this small bag of cat food this month--thinking I'd mix it in with the other foods and hope she'd eat it because it has vitamins and minerals. (She refused to eat anything that said it was "natural" or healthier when she was younger.) She thought it was some special new treat, I guess. Maybe because she could smell it was different from her other dry foods? I don't know. She has been rubbing on the bag in the pantry and crying for me to open it. So--I did. And she's all whacked out over her new "treats". Fine with me--hehe!

Yesterday this book came in the mail. This is the first time I have been in a book ring or a book circle in Bookcrossing. Since I had read the first two books in the trilogy, I put this one down on my wish list. Somebody emailed me and asked if I would like to be in a book ring, so I said okay--but I am not even sure where to find the circle list? I thought maybe I'd be emailed with the next person's address or it would come with the book. Apparently not. I'll figure it out. Or I can email the guy who started the ring and ask him. :)

The book originally came from England. The lady who mailed it to me lives in California. I wonder where I will be mailing it? I guess this is the next book on my reading list, eh? It's a big one!

The first book was made into a movie:

The Golden Compass(2007) After overhearing a shocking secret, precocious orphan Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) trades her carefree existence roaming the halls of Jordan College for an otherworldly adventure in the far North, unaware that it's part of her destiny. Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Sam Elliott co-star in this fantasy-laden family adventure based on the first book of the Philip Pullman trilogy His Dark Materials.


I really need to get caught up on www.bookcrossing.com. I have a stack of nine books sitting here that either need to be registered or reviewed. I've gotten very lax lately with that group. I should donate some computer time this weekend to getting caught up. This would give me another reason to get out and about--setting books free in the wild!! :) :) Fun! I can think of several places to release them. Or I could figure out how to check on wish lists and contact people if they have a book listed that I have ready to release.

I'd been away for a couple of years and the website didn't even look the same. You know how quickly things change in the cyberworld--chuckle! Truth be told--I've been putting off learning how to navigate the new and improved site....for a looong time. Time's up, eh? :)

Chilly, dark morning. Only supposed to get up to about 50 degrees today and expected to rain for the next few days. So my reading will be indoors for a while, I guess. Glad I have been taking advantage of these beautiful days! Does seem cooler than normal for June? I am thoroughly enjoying it, but my folks should be up from Florida soon and they will be freezing--hehe!! They've got that thin Floridian blood now--ROFL!!

Well, the reading marathon continues..... :):)

I just have to remember to spend some time with Bookcrossing, too!

Friday-7:30am--cogitation on driving

Have been out of bookcards for weeks, so I threw a few together to tide me over--hehe! These covers are made from 12 X 12 inch scrapbook paper. :)

Other than that--have still been on a reading binge--hehe! Was out reading on the porch until it got too dark to see.
I discovered the zoom on the camera. My enthusiasm drew Karma over to see what was so interesting. She looks like a little Buddha, doesn't she?
She joined me on the footstool/ottoman--still watching the screen for that bird to land. She'd be happy to see anything...a moth, a June bug....hehe!

I zoomed (tada!) up over the pillow and book (use a pillow to hold books when I read because can't hold a book very long with my bum arm).

Warning! I have found a new toy--the zoom! ROFL!!

My sleeping thru the night--well, not last night. I was up a few times--first just chilly and then pain dreams. Back to a normal night last night. :( I am hoping it was just a brief revisiting of old habits--chuckle! We'll see.

I've been trying to change in small ways this past week or so (Soul Coaching book)--make new habits maybe? Been trying to remember to take the three flights of stairs when I go to get the mail. Playing music on the newly moved boom box. Using the salt inhaler every morning while I read emails. (Leah has been using hers, BTW, and says it has been helping her breathing a lot! Said she doesn't ever want to be without it!) Been setting the alarm to attempt to stay on days, too. And I guess I could add that--besides all the light, fun reading--I've also been working on the SC book quite often lately, too. (Doing a lot of heavy thinkin'--hehe!) I have several books that you have to actually "work" through: journal, sketch, study, deep contemplation, whatever. I am hoping to get into the habit of having a book like that going all the time.

Since I do believe that everything happens for a reason...been thinking about the car a lot. Trying to "save" the car by not driving it--hasn't worked very well, has it? ROFL!! In my 58 years I have only had a car and driven for about 18 of those years--basically from age 30 to 48. Didn't get a driver's license until I was 30 and basically haven't driven much at all for the last ten years. I am so out of practice--and totally out of the habit, to be perfectly honest. Sometimes I actually forgot that PitaPaseo was out there in the garage! True!!

Since I moved here to Fargo I have been basically housebound due mostly to IBS and other health issues. There's no place close to walk to and a larger, unfamiliar bus system. I don't know where practially every public bathroom is on the bus routes like I did in Moorhead and most places are 2-3 buses away. Due to new medications things have improved physically quite a bit and I should have been getting out and about in the car. ??

Not that I felt like going anyplace with the jaw pain for quite a while there, but now I could be out sometimes. There's no ice and snow anymore. (Pita is not very good in the ice and snow--too low and too light.) And soon it will get so hot I won't want to be in the car much, anyways. (No AC.) Saving gas--well, nothing is very far away up here in the first place. Don't have any reason to go anyplace--could just go to the mall and walk a little. No money--go to the library or to a park to read or write or to attempt sketching. Don't know my way around (except Moorhead bus routes--hehe!)--about time I learn. Ten years and counting, eh? ROFL!!

Bottom line--I think subconsciously maybe I don't want to get used to thinking I can get around again on my own?? It was a very hard thing to adjust to when I moved up here ten years ago--after driving for 18 years--no car. Must be about seven years ago in Moorhead a family gave me an older car--and I was thrilled to have it!! I could take night classes at college, get my own groceries, go visiting.......FREEDOM!! I even made a trip that summer to Minneapolis to visit family and friends and then over to Menomonie, Wisconsin to visit Ruby. But the car didn't last long and something huge went wrong with the axle/tire--gone! I had to get used to being without a car all over again.

Where I lived in Moorhead at the time I still had the buses that I knew well. And I still had many places I could walk to--school, mall, bank, coffee shop, library, post office, etc. But it was still really hard to go through "car-withdrawal"--again.

My health has deteriorated considerably since then. I had to adjust to living here in south Fargo--with no car and no place to even walk to (not that I could have made it out much anyways--chuckle!). But--honestly--it was really difficult adjusting the first year here.

Anyways, I've been thinking about why I haven't been out and about with PitaPaseo? Why I have only driven her when I have absolutely had to and thought of her as nearly an emergency-only vehicle? Well, I think deep-down I haven't wanted to really feel that freedom again, you know? To believe it and get used to it--only to lose it again. ??

Dumb. I know it is dumb. Emotional and not logical. And now poor Pita's had troubles starting--and who knows if we will get her in running order again? (Hope so!) Obviously--I hadn't given any of this much thought until now. But--if PitaPaseo can get back to working order, I am going to try to change my mindset. I will try to get out once a week or so. Anyplace! I have survived car-withdrawal before--I can survive it again, right? I really hadn't realized how negative my subconscious had been about facing that potential loss again. But now that I've dug around in the recesses--(hehe!)--I have to face the challenge. If I am so lucky as to have Pita as a traveling buddy again.

Say a little prayer for PitaPaseo. :):)

Thursday-7am

Karma spent all morning waiting for the little bird to come back. It's possible she misses Gracie (our crabby, miserable cockatiel). But when Gracie flew down on the floor and followed her around Karma used to cry and became quite distressed. Karma had this tone in her voice like--I know I am not supposed to kill this bird and she is part of the family and all that, but get her away from me--now! Gracie never liked people, but she loved Karma and wanted to preen and pluck out her fur--hehe! I think Karma was fascinated with Gracie on occasion--kind of like she likes to watch the kids from the window. But at a distance--please--or they lose all appeal--ROFL!

[Note: I finally gave Miss Gracie away to a local bird club when she hit puberty, started biting much more often, and drawing blood regularly. She is happily living with another bird down in Minneapolis. Gracie was the one bird I could not win over, I guess. We highly suspect inbreeding. She didn't seem quite right in the head, as they say--poor thing! I honestly don't miss her. But occasionally Karma does, I think. Only because Gracie never took a chunk out of her--hehe!]

Anyways, look what came in the mail yesterday!! A beautiful, handmade necklace from John/Spruce in Labrador!!

This is soooo pretty, John!! I was stunned by your generosity!!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :):)
I never really got started on going through all the cassettes. I have quite a collection--and was given some of Dagan's, too (way of the dinosaur and all). The small case was Dagan's. The larger case was where I kept my most frequently played stuff--which I rotated, of course. :)

Here's the drawer filled with everything "cassette"--tapes, players, recorders, and blank tapes.

So you see what a job I have ahead of me. I need to go through them all and decide what to keep and what to give away. A lot of it is new age, nature sounds, etc. My goodness. I do have my work cut out for me.

And I was thinking--I'd better buy another cassette player before you can't find them anymore. I went on line last night and Best Buy doesn't even have one--not one. WalMart and Target only one or two--and they look pretty cheap--almost like they were for younger children? Another thing to put on my list--hehe!

The good news--for some inexplicable reason I have been sleeping through the nights??!! (Knock on wood!) Every night since I mentioned it--except for the night the LLL woke me up and then I did go right back to sleep--till morning! I have been setting the alarm to try to keep me on days--but that's nothing new, right? I am amazed that I have been sleeping--all night! Till morning! No waking up!!?? This is a pleasant mystery. I don't really care why--just am happy! Thrilled! Even tho I am often sleeping less hours--I wake up feeling more rested because I haven't been up and down all night.

Could be I have finally come out the other side from the dreaded menopause? hehe! Or maybe some of you out there have silently said a prayer for me? (Thank you if you did!!) I am a great believer in the power of prayer. Who knows? Who cares! I'm just soooo happy! For however long it lasts, I am most grateful!! :):):)

Now--on to the bad news. I never made it to the dentist yesterday. Went out to the garage and the car was dead as a doornail. I hadn't left the lights on or anything. Was just shocked, to be honest. After all the time and money spent on the car--for this very thing--not starting?? I hadn't moved it since I drove it home. Hoping it is a bad battery. Dagan and/or Leah will be over next week to see if we can jump it.

They have been helping Leah's mom move. Had a U-Haul truck yesterday--and maybe today, too? Leah has been over there helping every day. I think Chuck and Michal are there, too, now that school's out? And Ariel when she's not working, I would imagine? (Ariel just moved, too--into her very first apartment!) And Aaron (he'll be a senior next year). They've all been very, very busy. I'm sure I'll hear more about it next week when I see D&L. Sounds like it is going okay and they have had nice weather! Good!

Well, my timer went off a few minutes ago.

Got to move it! Move it! Move it! :):)

Have a great day!

Wednesday-8am

The excitement never ends around here! Just ask Karma! ROFL!!

Yesterday morning a fledgling bird landed right on the porch screen. Karma raced in there and froze below the flapping young bird.

I was afraid that it's tiny claws had gotten stuck in the mesh of the screen because it flapped a while and then just hung there.
As I walked around to the other side to see if the bird could move--the parents were going absolutely crazy! Screeching, hovering, and dive-bombing me as close as they could get to the screen. I slowly sweet talked the little bird to calm it down.
Suddenly it just flew off the screen to race off with the relieved parents. I think it was just exhausted learning to fly and there aren't a ton of places to land in North Dakota--ROFL!! Just kidding. :)

Karma stayed frozen for some time after the young bird left--hoping it would come back and looking wistfully up at the screen. I am convinced these are the things Karma is remembering fondly in her twitchy dreams.

Yesterday Caroline came. :) It was a beautiful day. I spent most of the afternoon going thru a deep stack of catalogs--or "wish books" as they used to call them--hehe! The majority of them ended up in the recycling bin.

We had a frost warning last night! In June! I know--I know--my fault for having put plants outside on the porch--ROFL! Murphy's Law--hehe! No really--they were fine out there all night.

But I am tired today. The loud, laughing lady from below me woke me up around 11:30pm. The doors slamming are the screen door and the porch door. No fight this time--she was just the LLL (LoudLaughingLady) having a great time. But then--something was on her porch--there was actual high, ear-piercing screaming and thudding about? I heard her telling someone else that she knew it was dead but she wanted it out of there anyways--as I firmly shut (slammed down) my bedroom window. I'm not clear as to whether they found something dead out on her porch and the other person was teasing her with it or if they killed something down there last night? I hope it was a bug--that's all I can say--because my mind automatically went to the baby bird, of course.

Anyways, this new woman apparently likes the porch occasionally--late night--and doesn't seem to remember that she doesn't live alone here. After my window pounded shut I think they were trying to be quieter--but I heard the doors occasionally slamming shut until I fell back to sleep some time after midnight.

Normally I wouldn't deliberately slam a window closed like that. I don't know what got into me!? I didn't the first time with her 4am fighting. (Not that I didn't want to--hehe!) They can hear me close the window anyways--even if I try to do it quietly--because we are close together--right on top of each other, I believe--and the windows are noisy in the first place. I didn't call and complain about her, but if anyone did or does--now she'll think it was me. Sometimes people retaliate. I prefer to be basically invisible when it comes to apartment living. I won't do it again. Well, at least I don't think I will? But then again--I'm already on her list now....hummm? ROFL!

Miss Karma cried to go out on the porch right away this morning--well, after her treat, of course--hehe! She's out there crying softly--looking for the baby bird on the screen. I wonder if she misses Gracie?

This afternoon at 1pm I go to the dentist for a regular exam. I'm not looking forward to what they will find. I know I have a tooth or two that hurts when I drink anything really cold. Not good. Like I said, I haven't had coverage and haven't been in for many years. My own fault. Should have been good and gone anyways--found a way despite poverty and fear--hehe! Now I am paying the piper. That's life. Today will be a breeze, tho--just xrays and checking to see what all they have to do in future visits--no drilling or even teeth cleaning. Shouldn't take very long.

Then I have my monthly CashWise grocery order coming in late afternoon between 4-6pm. It will be a busy enough day for me--hehe! Leah stopped by and put the paper in PitaPaseo's window that says the new plates have been ordered. Had to change over from Minnesota to North Dakota now that Dagan and Leah moved. Pita is their car--they just let me use her. :)

So today--Pita and I will be out and about around town. Later... :):)

Tuesday-6:45am

I was busy moving things around yesterday. I moved the boom box from the top of my headboard in the bedroom to the top of my curio cabinet in the living room.

My headboard looks so bare to me now. :)
Why? Well, I was talking to John in Labrador about his native flute playing and how I have a couple Carlos Nakai cassettes stored away with all my old cassette tapes--and how maybe I should find them.

Then I was working on the Soul Coaching book all afternoon and I was on the section that tells you how you should change things and start new habits.

I had two boom boxes when I moved in here on which I could play cassettes--one in the living room and the one in the bedroom on the headboard. The one in the living room died the first year I was here, as I recall. It used to take up a whole shelf in one of the craft bookcases--so I never replaced it because I wanted the extra room.

But since then--for probably three years--I have not been listening to music except on rare occasions. If I remember, I put on something softly soothing when we do Sacred Circle. I do have a very few CDs that I can play on the computer (because Dagan and Leah warned me that my cassettes were going to going the way of the dinosaur)--but the computer and music never has quite jelled in my brain for some reason. I learned about Pandora from Ruby, but I forget about it most of the time--just like I forget the fact I can play CDs on the computer, too.

Anyways, I needed a spot that was large enough and out of the way enough to keep the boom box out here. The top of the curio has been kind of my sacred space--so it never occurred to me to take things off and put the boom box there--but that was the only spot that would work. So--I just took a deep breath and went to work.

I haven't gone thru my cassettes yet. Actually they take up an entire drawer in one of my bedroom dressers! But--already in the boom box was Music To Disappear In by Raphael. I learned to meditate to that music. GA wanted me to learn how to meditate, but I couldn't shut off the mind chatter. GA suggested playing quiet music without any voices. Ruby sent me Music To Disappear In and it worked--of course.

Since I listened to this particular album repeatedly to learn meditation I am like Pavlov's dog when I hear it--hehe! My heart rate goes down and a calmness comes over my entire being with the very first notes. I forgot how music can kind of blanket me in peace. :) I have it on right now. Ahhh!!!

I have no idea if any of that has anything to do with it but--I slept through the night. ??

I don't remember the last time I slept all night long without getting up at least once and sometimes almost every hour on the hour. Those of you with fibromyalgia or other chronic conditions know what I am talking about. I felt like I had lost time. Like the Twilight Zone. Like a black out. ROFL!! No lie! It felt very, very strange. Good--but peculiar and alien. :) I was almost afraid to mention it--like I would jinx myself or something, you know? But I don't care. It might not happen again, anyways, right? And it was definitely noteworthy--well, to me at least--chuckle! :):)

I've been spending so much time on the porch--decided that it was about time to move out my two hanging plants. So last night at dusk I got out the step stool. :)

Oh, and I have been remembering the red handmade paper every few days. I used layers of newspapers to try to dry them while I was pressing them (which I probably should have been doing from the beginning). They were almost dry yesterday so I took them out of the layers and just found something to lay across the top of them so they don't curl up at the very end here--hehe!

Yes--they are much more even and flat. :)

I never did get around to snooping online for information on pressing handmade paper. Been using up my computer time too quickly lately. Especially now that I have a timer and am being good about not overdoing things--hehe! (Speaking of--it just went off so I have to wrap this up--chuckle!)

This was Karma last night. It's quite the rarity for her to sit on the metal chair. But I had covered up the comfy one for the night and she was trying to be closer to the hanging plants to check them out. Anything new, right?

Caroline comes later this morning. Maybe today I will dig into my cassettes... :):)

Monday-7:30am

Was a bright sunny day!

I confess. Basically read all day long--moving from the porch to my favorite chair. It was getting warm--switched on a fan--read on. Turned out it got up to 86 degrees yesterday! Too warm for me, but Karma was thrilled! I was about to put the AC on in the early evening when it dropped 13 degrees in an hour. I think it rained last night. I slept too well to notice. :):)