Sunday-12:30pm

I got home somewhere around 1:30am--can't remember exactly. There was an ambulance sitting outside and I could see as I walked past with my assorted bags that they were attending someone inside. Up at the fire exit door stood two young men--each with a can in their hand--staring at the ambulance. They had propped open the exit door with the tall cigarette receptacle that usually sits right outside the front door--so they were either visitors or had forgotten their keys.

****

As I approached the front door the one young man very formally said--"Ma'am, if you'd like I can hold the door open for you over here"--and with the slightest stumble to his sidestep, he indicated the emergency exit door.

****

"Why, thank you", I replied and changed my course. As I came close enough to catch the wafting beer scent in the air, the talkative one said with that strained innocent sincerity that the drunken use while trying desperately to appear sober, "we're just watching our friend".

****

I stopped, he held the door, we all looked back at the ambulance. "Oh my! What happened?" I asked--in a conversational tone that indicated belief in his soberness. (I hate to add to anyone's discomfort or shame.)

****

"She twisted her ankle...really bad." They both nodded somberly to each other and then turned to stare at the ambulance.

****

There had been genuine concern in his voice. I didn't sense that they had actually done anything deliberately to the woman...but that they were trying to cover up the general drunkenness of all parties concerned, you know? These two may have been the most sober and elected to go with her to the ambulance and report back. That was my sense of the situation, anyways.

****

There are occasional parties and loud arguments and racing up and down the stairwells. Not a good idea if you have been drinking to try to stomp down long flights of stairs. If she had been in an argument with someone, my guess is it wasn't with either of those two. I said I hoped she was okay. The talker said they did, too--and wished me a good evening--and I them. His mother had raised him well.

****

The second Karma heard the key in the door she started crying with relief and impatience. She was rubbing against the door so enthusiastically in anticipation that I could barely get inside--hehe! I imagine the ambulance may have come into the parking lot with the siren and lights on and freaked her out. She was sooo glad to see me! You'd think I had been gone a week!

****

I had a toy that Dagan and Leah sent over because neither Sammy or Annie will touch it. I snapped these pictures as I was calling Leah to tell her I got home okay.

I wondered why Karma was attacking that mouse like a crazy person?

Leah told me she had sprayed it with this catnip spray to try to get Sammy and Annie interested in it.

That had to be the fascination. Not that she has played with it today at all. I think she got disgusted that she couldn't tear that mouse off the little pole--hehe! After all--she had tried and tried last night, as you can see.

Two orders had arrived yesterday at Dagan and Leah's place. The special order stamps from ImpressRubberStamps.com we ordered for our etsy shop!

Now we can stamp the backs of our cards that we make.

They always send these pretty little thank you cards with your order. Funny coincidence that they sent one with Leah's trademark saying on the front--"thank you kindly"--when it was shipped to her place. Leah has that on her signature for all her emails, etc. Has for many years. :) Cool!

And then the order from JoAnn.com--flower die cuts. One die set was backordered. Two are by Cuttlebug...

...and one is made by Spellbinders.

This one is actually a bit large for most of what we do. But we love the company and their dies are awesome--and they were all 40% off--hehe! We can probably use the two smaller ones, but that largest one is too big for our normal cards.

Speaking of cards...

...brought home all the cards from Leah's so that I can go thru and stamp the backs of them with our new stamps--tada! These are all the cards that will eventually be put up on our etsy shop. A few at a time, tho--not all at once. New cards should start showing up later this month, I hope. And the jewelry forms arrived, too, for photographing necklaces and bracelets. Altho--one color of the bracelet cone was backordered, too. But--things are moving along.

****

Nothing seems to be moving quickly, tho. Dagan now told me he needs to order another part for the computerTV system. Something to do with the DVD player part. It will all come together in the end. I will still be getting IdeaOne on Thursday for my Internet regardless. I don't need the computerTV system finished to do that. I just won't cancel CableOne till I have the other way to watch TV. May as well cancel both parts at once (Internet and cable TV).

****

Leah cut my hair and I hennaed hers. Leah asked me to bring over the rest of our essential oils when I came. She made up some sprays--even a spider repellant! Dagan cut out rectangles for me from a scrap piece of carpeting they had to fit the bottom of Karma's cat box. Now I have extras! And he played that awful video game where you steal and crash cars while I put the henna in Leah's hair. It was just the best evening. :)

****

And now this is long enough that I will wait again to talk about DVDs--hehe! Today I am washing clothes and that will be about it for me for today. I am hoping that since the pictures loaded today again that this will post and that maybe I will be able to blog again now? Knock on wood, eh? Maybe I can read and comment on other people's blogs again? I'll try today. I am really far behind, but I'll catch up eventually. I have missed seeing what everybody is up to--hehe! And even answering emails! Things will be back to normal by Friday--regardless. :)

****

Have a wonderful day!! :):)

****

"Every being is an abode of God, worthy of respect an reverence."

Hindu Scripture

****

Even the unhappy, angry souls who start fires and destroy property. They probably are in need of loving kindness more than most.

Saturday-4pm

If my luck holds out I may be able to post this! (Knock on wood!) Took a long time, but I was able to upload the pictures today. So far, so good, eh? Well, if I can't post this now, I can probably save it as a draft, anyways. :)

Okay--back to Monday. I used a lot of the Winsor Newton gold ink (glad to use it up after all these years--hehe!) and my Holbein tiny watercolor palette for another sheet of bookmarks while I was washing clothes...

...and the fire alarm in the building went off. Now it has gone off at least once a year since I have lived here and there's never been a fire. Karma HATES the ear-piercing alarm. She knows the routine. I get her in her stroller, (was actually in my nightgown because I was washing clothes and wanted to have all my favorite things clean-so I had to quickly throw some clothes on), gather up my bag, keys, cell phone...but this time I step out into the hallway and I actually could faintly smell smoke!

****

So--down the three flights of stairs we go. But instead of slowly--I was trying to hurry and smacking poor Karma's stroller on each step on the way down. So, after the first flight, I picked the stroller up by the handle and carried it down the next two flights so we could get outside faster. The scent of something burning in the air will hurry a person up.

****

After we were outside I took the sidewalk over toward the front door where all the people were gathered--standing and sitting on the curbs & grass right outside the building. I heard the fire was on first floor by the elevator as Karma and I slowly made our way to my garage--Karma crying and crying the entire way since we left the apartment.

Two fire trucks showed up. Above is my view from my garage. You can see the one fire truck.

****

There is no place to sit down and with my bad knees and back--sitting on the curb isn't much of an option for me anymore. I might not get back up--hehe! So Karma and I always head for my garage where I have an extra chair that I won't get rid of for this very reason--hehe! I park Karma's stroller so that Karma can see me in the chair...

...and she stops crying. Unless I get up to go look out the garage door--hehe! But as long as she isn't moving and can see me--she sits quietly and waits for the horrible ordeal to be over--hiding in the back of the carrier.

Turned out that somebody lit the bulletin board on fire on the wall next to the elevator. Nice. We not only don't have a lick of furniture left in the building and the exit signs bolted to the ceiling--now we can't even have a bulletin board without vandalism. Good grief! They could have burned the building down! Creepy enough worrying about accidental fires--now we had one on purpose!?

****

The police arrived. The fire trucks left. I thought Karma and I could get home, but the elevator still wasn't operational. There were still officials here. One bumpy ride down is enough for me and for Karma. A nice lady offered to help me carry Karma's stroller back up to third floor up all the stairs. She had a bad right arm and I have a bad left arm--between us we hauled the stroller up the three flights of stairs--while she told me about three patrol cars being there recently because an older brother was beating his sister with a hanger in the hallway (my floor)--another boy who has stolen two bikes already--etc, etc...

****

...and as we hit third floor--some youths walked past at the end of the hallway and were apparently who she had been talking about--as she looked nervous and they glared at her. You could feel the negative energy in the air between them.

****

I am glad I am ignored. I'm not a window watcher and I rarely leave my apartment. I'm just at home here minding my own business. And I love my little apartment. I don't associate with or know anybody in the building. I've lived in apartments the majority of my adult life and I learned my lessons years ago. I import my friends--hehe! I avoid making friends with the apartment neighbors. Just smile and say hi in passing--that's it. Pleasant--invisible. When there are fire alarms people look at me like--does she live here? And that's the way I like it. ;)

****

Meanwhile--the sheet dried...

...and the gold changes as the light hits it. Kind of took over the sheet as it dried.

But I really like the metallic flashy look of these.

I think I have six more little homemade palettes to go--plus a store-bought larger one--hehe! Playtime isn't over yet. If I don't use all of these various sheets for bookmarks, I can use them for card-making parts or in handmade paper.

After the stress of the fire alarm Karma was still nervous on Tuesday. Here she was crying quietly--looking for that stolen spot on top of the satchel to hide in...

...and she wasn't her normal sprawly self on the porch--hiding under the little table.

The next day they had cleaned up all the soot and white powdery spray from the firemen--and all that was left was a scorch on the wall that wouldn't come off. Thankfully, it doesn't look like much for all that excitement. Caught early. I even wondered if a resident put it out before the fire truck got here? Or maybe it had been just smouldering? The floor wasn't wet when I came thru with Karma. They had just used fire extinguishers. White powder everywhere! And we were the first footprints...and stroller-prints--hehe!

I don't care enough to stick around and ask questions--hehe! Just glad it was put out before it did more damage.

****

As you know, I have had a terrible time with the Internet. Dagan and Leah had to pass again at coming over for craft night on Tuesday--but Dagan stopped by briefly that night to check my modem for me. Just to make sure it wasn't my equipment--because they usually say it my fault, of course. I wanted Dagan to look things over before I bothered to call CableOne.

****

Oh--and I got my fresh veggies and mushrooms cut and frozen--hehe! ;)

****

Wednesday I called IdeaOne--the new internet provider I want to switch to anyways when Dagan gets my new system put together. They were backed up because of the holiday and the earliest they could come and hook me up is Thursday the 15th.

****

Now--CableOne. About once a year or so this same thing has happened to me--erratic internet connection or none at all. Every time they tell me it is not on their end--nothing wrong (except once the first year I was here). They proceed to transfer me to the troubleshooting department--and then we go round and round with me trying to do all the things they ask me to do with the computer (which, after the first time, I have already had Dagan over here to do--but they refuse to believe me and make me do all these rebooting things again). Sometimes they have transferred me to somebody else or said they'd get back to me. Finally they reluctantly schedule me for a service visit.

****

Then I deal with the repair person. They do all the same rebooting things that have already been done twice by now--search around--jiggle cords--occasionally try to blame Karma...all the while I am asking them to go downstairs to the cable room and check my cord connection down there--and I am telling them that it has been loose every time I have had this problem from when they have been here to connect or disconnect someone else in the building. And they ignore me and usually keep trying to tell me I need a new modem.

****

I finally convince them to humor me and go check down in the cable room. And they come back and are so surprised that my cable connection was loose. (One of them would never admit to it, but it suddenly worked after he went down to the cable room.)

****

Okay--so Wednesday I call CableOne. The lady tells me she sees nothing wrong and tells me she will transfer me to the troubleshooters. I hang up.

****

No point in dealing with them and waiting for days for them to fix this (I wish the door wasn't locked and I could go down there myself--hehe!) if I am going to cancel their service on Thursday. And this time it is erratic connection, so I am not totally, totally cut off.

****

I'm still not sure I will be able to post this today, but it is autosaving to draft once in a while, so I will get this posted eventually if not today. This might be the only day I can get thru--maybe not. But after this coming Thursday I should be up and running again. Right now, even emailing is if-y--so you can imagine how exciting it was to get photos to load for the first time today! I've been trying every day. :)

****

Caroline completely forgot me Wednesday night because of the holiday and thinking it was Tuesday--hehe! They changed her hours now, tho--so we can go back to Tuesday afternoons for now. Nice! I'm glad. It is a lot to come over and clean at night after you have worked a long day at another job. So she is coming over next Tuesday at 2pm. :)

****

Let's see--while I've "been away"--what else? I watched a few interesting DVDs--but I'll fill you in later. This is going to be way long enough.

****

Oh and I forgot to tell you (talk about a complete mental block!) that Dagan does have glaucoma. He found another eyedoctor that their insurance would cover--they wouldn't cover Paerle Vision, if you recall. He's in the very early stage. Taking eye drops for it and will go back and have them recheck how the eyedrops are working in a short while here. Dagan wants me to switch to his eyedoctor if he takes medicare. I will, if he does.

****

I think I'm a fairly optimistic person but Dagan and Leah really teach me about true positive thinking. I admire them both so much. :) :)

****

Thursday I put together 15 bookcards! Been out for ages. All set for a while again.

Friday--I was eating a piece of toast and suddenly it felt like I had bitten down on a shard of glass! I think I cracked a tooth. ??? No surprise, I guess--as my molars, the ones I have left, are mostly silver. I think it is up around where the dentist filled that last cavity?

****

Anyways, I am now very glad I have the pain pills and they do work better for me now because I haven't used them for a couple of months. Sometimes it really throbs and is painful. Sometimes it isn't as bad--like now. But I haven't eaten today. Hard to chew on only one side and never allow your teeth on the opposite side to touch--hehe! Of course, eating--even soft foods--sets off the pain. And these things always happen over the weekend--hehe!

****

I did call my dentist office on Friday. But it was about 4pm. They never actually answer the phone--always let it go to voice mail and eventually get back to you. It was a Friday. I didn't expect anyone was probably there after 1 or 2 pm anyways. No one called back, of course. They'll probably get back to me Monday about making an appointment.

****

I'm so sick of painful teeth. Sometimes I think I should just have them pull them all out and be done with it. Gum my food or drink from a blender the rest of my days. :(

****

Sorry. But I know this is going to be another bad visit. I have had that other tooth bothering me--or I think it's the tooth? Still sore up under my cheek/eye--and when I press on it goes right down to my eyetooth. I am probably going to look like a snaggletooth by the time they get done with me. When you're poor--they pull. I do need to find out what is going on with that other pain in my cheek/tooth, tho. *sigh* Do what has to be done. And pray they don't tell me I need the specialist again--because they are still threatening me with collections because I am not paying "enough", as you may recall. So they could possibly refuse to take care of me?? Enough on that subject.

****

Karma got a present in the mail yesterday from my dear friend, Ruby!

Cat grass seeds! Fancy ones, from the looks of it. The package is a little mangled because I put it on the floor for Kama to smell and paw at a bit--and lay on, of course. But--I forgot it overnight and she, obviously, had some fun with it while I was sleeping--hehe! It had been pristine when it arrived. Does look a little cat-battered, doesn't it? Thank goodness she didn't bite it open and leave a trail of seeds all over the apartment--ROFL!

****

Today--Saturday. Heading over tonight to help Leah henna her hair and she is going to cut mine. It will be a hot trip--but the humidity is supposed to have gone down some. I don't know, as I have been inside and cool. ;)

****

Lastly--I heard that on Starz network (cable) in July 2010 they will be showing an 8-part miniseries of "The Pillars of The Earth"!!! I don't get Starz, but if you do...it is an awesome book. I would imagine the book is much better, but I will want to see this miniseriers if it ever comes out on Netflix. I am re-reading the book--slowly this time. And enjoying it just as much as the first time!!

****

Okay--cross your fingers! I am going to attempt to post this. And if I don't see you before then--I'll be back on Friday the 16th.

****

"It takes two to speak truth - One to speak, and another to hear."

Henry David Thoreau

Tuesday-6:15pm--Internet problems

I hope I can get this to post if I am very patient and keep trying.

Just wanted to let you know that I will probably be offline for a while.

Internet dreadfully slow and constantly disconnecting.

Dagan said the replacement motherboard was scheduled to arrive today, so he plans to build the system and set it up for me later this week.

So--until I get switched to another provider (or Cable One suddenly works-no point in calling them if I will be canceling them in a few days, as it can take them a few days to even get here in the first place)...later gator! ;)

Monday-9:45am

I worked on cards yesterday. I forgot that I can't leave a new space open for more than a few minutes...

...or Miss Karma thinks it's a new sleep spot. I was afraid for the plastic satchel, to be honest--but it survived the 20 pounds of fur-love snooze. I'll be more careful about putting them back, tho, in future. ;)

Proof of how OCD I am--this was what the table looked like ten minutes after I finished my last card. Almost everything back in its appropriate spot. :)

I worked on the challenges for StampTV. Two of the cards I had made in the past at card classes--but I made them, right? So I figured I could still use them for entries.

****

First one--make a card that was blue and green and that was due last night.

A sketch challenge that is due tonight.

Inspiration red, white, and blue card due Tuesday night. (This is one of the card class cards.)

This one due Wednesday was to use the heat embossing technique. I've never tried to use two colors of embossing powder at one time before. Excited that it worked!

StampTV.com also has these online "parties" when they introduce their new stamp sets. I'm not exactly sure how often they have them, but it seems like about a month or so ago they had the last one. Anyways, they have separate challenges for these parties, too. This one was right before the holiday weekend and they were all due tonight.

****

Challenge One was a sketch challenge.

Challenge Two you had to have at least 9 circles (anything round--brads, gems, eyelets, etc). Already had this card from a class and added the small buttons. I like it better now with the extra buttons!

Challenge three was to make a black and white card with no other colors.

Anyways, I entered them all last night. Felt like an accomplishment. I do enjoy having the challenges to conquer. I have to think about how to meet them and often can fit in trying some new technique or product, too. :) I'll continue to do them when I can. Hopefully maybe once or twice a month. I'd do them every week if I could manage it. ;)

****

It was awful cloudy last night. I had the place closed up with the AC and fans going, so I didn't notice the fireworks off in the distance--or even pay attention as to whether they had them. I knew I couldn't see much at all with the clouds, anyways. Has to be fairly clear for me to see the fireworks displays in Moorhead. But on a clear night--I can watch three of them in action. Last night, just heard some going off in our parking lot, as usual. Karma hates them, so she was glad the windows were all closed, I think--hehe! She was less stressed this year.

****

Today--partly cloudy, mid-80's. I am washing clothes...and I should chop those veggies and mushrooms. ;) I think today is still considered the holiday weekend and there's no mail, if I recall correctly. So--happy end of the weekend--hehe! :):)

****

"Don't worry 'bout me

Now I am alright.

That worry I had,

Let it fade into the Light."

Rickie Byars Beckwith

Morning Chant

Sunday-10am

Karma likes to sleep in her chair in the evenings a lot. This is what I see from my chair--hehe!

She loves the plush throw I bought her. Well, she thinks I bought it strictly for her comfort. I bought it to cover the chair because of her cat hair--hehe! It was a win-win, I guess.

I forgot to mention Creation.

****

Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin in this BBC biographical drama that captures the legendary scientist in a period of intense mourning -- and expansive intellectual discovery -- following the untimely death of his young daughter, Annie. As Darwin dares to question the existence of God, he pens his groundbreaking tome, On the Origin of Species -- much to the chagrin of his religious wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly).

****

I thought this was a quite interesting movie. I've seen movies about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle and on the controversy after he published his book, but this was a part of his life I knew little about. It was a much more domestic and personal view taken from letters, his children's remembrances, etc. I knew he had procrastinated about finishing the book for years. This movie delves into why. Fascinating. A step back in time.

****

Oh, and I didn't realize that Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly were actually married in real life, too. Obviously, I watched the bonus material--hehe! ;) There was a lot of interesting additional information in the bonus material on Darwin. If I like a movie, I often watch all the extras. :)

****

I picked out some papers for making cards for the challenges, but that's as far as I got yesterday. Some days just slip pleasantly away so quickly. :)

****

It rained last night. Only supposed to get up to the mid-80's today, but it's a good day to stay in and enjoy the air conditioning. Cloudy so that it is almost dark. If the skies don't clear people won't be able to see the fireworks very well. It's still early. And the wind always blows up here. Maybe the clouds will be pushed out by evening, eh? I hope so. :)

****

In a pondering mood, so have a quote to ponder.

****

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

Carl Jung

Saturday-9:30am

Karma just sits like this when she wants to go out--expecting me to notice her. If I don't after a few minutes, then she'll complain and meow at me to get my attention.

I did catch Miss Lazin' In The Heat yesterday snoozing against the table leg. That just doesn't look comfortable at all.

Here's the latest wet sheet made with the Sennelier paints.

The wind picked up in the afternoon. Karma tried to relax outside but the porch screen flapping in the breeze kept her awake. She gave up and came in, but the dryer vent cover was beating against the building--ROFL!

Later on in the evening when the wind died down and it was quieter, Karma went out to enjoy snoozing in the heat--and she didn't want to come back in! I had to go out at midnight and get her so I could go to bed--ROFL!

****

Here's the sheet dry. I mostly post the wet and dry for myself, I guess. I like to see which paints hold their colors and which ones fade a lot after they dry. Now I have a blog record. ;) Sennelier didn't change much at all.

Greens and blues this time...

...with golden blobs and...

...gold ink spray. Me trying to use a toothbrush for spraying--ROFL! [Works better with paint. Ink is too liquid and drippy and doesn't stay on the toothbrush.]

This is such fun!! Definitely food for the soul!! :):)

****

I was right. My check was early (because of the 4th of July) so I was able to order groceries in the morning. They still had later time slots open--groceries came about 6pm--tada! My project for this weekend is to cut up all the mushrooms, peppers, and squash and freeze them in smaller portions. Don't want to lose any this month.

****

I hope all the US folks have a nice holiday weekend. I plan to stay cool inside and maybe work on some card challenges and some more bookmark play. :) Karma will probably be laying around in the heat chewing grass--hehe!

****

"Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'"

The Talmud

Friday-9:30am

Was so steamy out there that Karma didn't even want to sit up to eat her grass!

She just gnawed at what she could reach. Now that's too hot to move--hehe!

She used the table leg as a pillow in-between her listless grass chomping. But I didn't get a picture because she saw me with the camera and begged to come in. To hot and humid even for the heat-seeking furball Karma.

****

I had to take about a dozen pictures to get these. The camera wanted to just focus on the copper frame and refused to focus on the clear nose pad--hehe! Stubborn thing! And you know I have to be careful in the sunlight around all that craft paper not to start a fire with these things--ROFL!! (Sadly--these are actually thinned down or shaved, believe it nor not.)

It has almost split in half.

Well, I decided to try some super glue for now. That should last me for a while. It is just plain too dang hot and sticky to drive around in a car with no AC if I don't absolutely have to. Feels like you hit a wall when you step outside. Hard to breathe. So, I'll wait till the heat and humidity breaks.

****

Was on the McLap a lot again yesterday. Have my grocery order all ready to go. Caught up some online (always fun!). I did also started watching Creation about Darwin last night, but too tired to finish it. Going to finish it after I am done blogging. :)

****

Wind coming our way a bit more this morning, but not enough to slam the dryer vent cover--so far--knock on wood. ;) Another day in the 90's and miserable. Tomorrow is supposed to be, too--but then scattered thunderstorms are expected in the afternoon and will maybe cool it off a little. I hope it will help the humidity level to drop. Ahhh--summer in Minnesota. Ooops! I mean North Dakota. Same difference, I guess. I am only a hop and a skip over the border, after all, and am a born and bred Minnesotan. Don't know as I will ever feel like a North Dakotan? Lived in Wisconsin for seven years and still felt like a Minnesotan the whole time there, too. Minnesota will always be home to me, I guess. Nothing will change that--least of all location--ROFL!! :):)

****

"Deep roots are not reached by the frost."

J.R.R. Tolkien

Thursday-10:30am

Was a lounging, listening-to-the-wind day.

Karma may like the heat, but she doesn't like loud noise--at all.

So she stayed inside yesterday.

I worked on balancing the checkbook, writing out bills, and figuring out the budget for July. Today I will tweak and tweak the grocery order. Because of the holiday I might have my check early this month and be able to order early. :)

****

A nose piece on my brand new glasses is coming apart. I was going to try to take a picture, but my battery went dead on the camera. So--today or tomorrow I hope to make it over to Pearle Vision to get it replaced. Having something fall apart already does not bode well, does it. It's not like I am rough with my glasses. I'll try to remember to get a picture before it's replaced. I was really shocked, to be honest. You just don't expect to have problems with new glasses when they're only a couple months old.

****

Another windy, hot, sticky day in the 90s. This is supposed to keep up for a few days, so we've been closed up with the AC & fans saying cool. The wind isn't as loud today for us, but it is still really windy--just not in the same direction as it was yesterday. So it is quieter here today. Maybe Karma will want to brave the porch today? Me--may just peruse more magazines--didn't get to much yesterday. Where did the day go? :):)

****

"Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it's what they bring to the world that really counts."

Lucy Maud Montgomery

(Anne of Green Gables)