Saturday-9:30am

Quick hello today.

We get some gorgeous peeks at the sun here and there.  But there's been a lot of cloudy and/or rainy days.  More to come all week, I guess.   

But as long as the sun stops by now and again for a visit, I do like the cooler days rather than the heat and humidity so I'm not complaining.  :)

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Dagan and Leah stopped by briefly on Wednesday.   

She had actually let her hair go curly!   

She's been straightening it for about five years now.

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I'm glad she had her last day of work yesterday.  She seemed tired and they were still heading over to Costco.  (They picked up a few food items for me, too, that they are dropping off tomorrow morning.)

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The "Plan Friendly" flax granola had arrived from Columbia Country Bread.

Talk about "settling" in the bag, eh?  We all tried a little chunk...and all agreed that it was basically dry and tasteless like cardboard.

But what do you expect with no salt, oats, or sweeteners.  Maybe it will be better with the coconut milk on it?  They do make regular granola there, too, which probably tastes quite good.

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Everything else has arrived--digital scale and all.  My Cashwise grocery order is coming this afternoon.  I am doing prep work and cooking for the first three days tomorrow.  Starting The Plan on Monday.  So strange to see things like chia seed, hemp seed, beets, pears, kale...coming into my kitchen--LOL!  The countdown has begun!  I shall keep you apprised during this adventure.

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Oh, and the swallows have returned! 

Karma is happy!

The swallows are pretty darn happy, too.

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My laptop has been acting up now, too--very slow and pages won't always open.  (What next, eh?)  And blogger has been giving me trouble about leaving comments on blogs.  Sometimes I think the universe is trying to tell me to just unplug altogether.  *sigh*  I keep getting error notices all the while I am writing this so I hope it will post.  Anyways, I am too busy at the moment to worry over it much.  Just wanted to put it out there in case you don't hear from me for a while.  It would be technical issues and not by my choice--just so you know.  ;)

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I have a new stack of library books to read.  (A couple of them are interlibrary loans that are due already on the19th--some fun reading, though!)  A new crazy diet to follow.  Cleaning and organizing up the ying-yang.  A cloudy fish bowl that won't clear up.  (Dagan says maybe it's the snails--wouldn't that be unpoetic justice?)  Christmas cards to stamp.  Letters to write.  Several unfinished projects...and a little red-legged art table still patiently calling to me.  If the laptop keeps working I'll be back Tuesday.  ;)

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"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

Thomas Alva Edison 

Tuesday-8:45am

Good Morning!  Good Morning!

Grab a cuppa.  

Lots of pictures today.  :)

We had a fascinating cloud day... 

...can't remember now which day I took so many pictures... 

...but here are a few.  

Saturday maybe?   

The wind created...

 ...an ever-changing panorama.  

Quite a beautiful sight while I took my many breaks on my quest to rearrange the entryway.  I emptied the dusty bookcase... 

...and removed everything from the walls. 

Had books and magazines stashed everyplace!  On the bench... 

...in the bedroom... 

...on my desk... 

...on the floor. 

I went through the shelf of magazines and have more I am going to post on freecycle.  Old Vegetarian Times and four different writing magazines. 

(I became a vegetarian four years ago last Sunday after watching "Earthlings"...well, with admitted chicken lapses 2-4 times a year. )

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Cleaned off the bookcase and "walked" it across to the other wall.

As soon as I put the new shoe bench against the wall... 

...Karma invited herself up for a close examination.  (Well, she climbed into the empty bookcase, too, for that matter.) 

Hummm?   

Never noticed this before. 

Well, maybe she had--but Karma never had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the wall door stopper before.  

She smelled every inch of the bench..again.  The odor must have changed from having things piled on it for a couple days. 

The world looks so different with a shift in perspective. 

Meanwhile...I gradually finished putting together the rest of the black IKEA boxes.  The largest ones have rectangular holes in the ends for handles.  I didn't get the camera out fast enough when I set the first one on the floor but Karma, the queen of optimism (or denial), thought she could climb inside the box through that little hole!  She actually was trying to squeeze her head in there--ROFL!  She was quite annoyed.  

She stuck her front legs in--one at a time--and pawed around.  Tried to push the box around.  Climbed on top of it.  Cats hate to be denied access. 

Here's the completed stack of boxes!  TaDa!! 

All set for the cleaning and reorganizing to come.

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I hung the poinsettia painting back in the entryway, but needed a level to hang the magnetic blackboard up straight because it needed two nails in very specific spots. 

I emailed our tool girl, Leah, about bringing over a level on Wednesday.  She texted me back with a link to an app!  Yes, "they have an app for that"!  ROFL!!  I now have a level on my cell phone...  

...and was able to hang the blackboard--no problem! 

All clean and shiny now! 

Decided to move my rainbow art piece while I had hammer in hand, too. 

Oh...speaking of hanging pictures...some of you who have been with me from the beginning of this blog (June 10, 2006) may remember when I hung this small canvas board outside my apartment door (on June 28, 2006--rest assured I had to look up these dates--LOL!).  A coreopsis wildflower I painted but didn't like how it turned out (messed up the center).  

I had already lived here over a year so I fully expected it to be stolen or defaced.  That's why I hung something I didn't care about losing, right?  Well, it was finally stolen just recently.  Gone.  Not a big loss or anything, but I am surprised how much I miss that cheery spot of color coming home.  I might have to make something else I won't care about losing, eh?  

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Oh!  And the Cashwise website is fixed!!  Not that they would admit to me there was anything wrong with it--LOL!  Dagan said that he thought it was related to their program because it had not been booting people off after idle time lately.  (You could stay logging in for days!)  I think he was right.  Now it is kicking you out when you've been idle again and the login is working quite properly--tada!  Nice to have something fixed, eh?

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I have to say--I am very, very happy that the sciatica has subsided so that I can usually do my hour at a time again these days and am able to get more done.  Really does make me extra grateful for what I can do.  Don't ever complain, right?  It could always be worse.  ;)

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Oh--and Serena told me which tetras I have! 

Red Serpae Tetras.

( from google images)

They are quite handsome fish.

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Last, but not least, for the folks over at T Stands For Tuesday at Elizabeth's...my trusty thermal coffee mug. 

When I begin The Plan (maybe as soon as next Monday if all my orders arrive) I will lovingly scrub this down and put it away...for who knows how long.  Since I am only allowed to test drinking a cup in the morning on the 4th day (and they expect me to stick to one small morning cup if I test okay to drink coffee), I am going to have to get down my few regular cups from the top shelf in the cupboard, eh?  You may not see my thermal mug for a good while.  I know it is boring to look at for you, anyways...but not to me--LOL!

Adios, dear warm friend!  ;)

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Well, have a happy, happy day!  Do something that makes you smile.  Hope somebody has some sunshine today.  ;)

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"I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

Joseph Campbell

Thursday-11:45am

I decided to make it back earlier--LOL!

Dark, cloudy morning.

I surprised Leah yesterday and had all her thank you cards finished! 

Simple and sweet. 

Plus I moved the dried roses into one of the black boxes from IKEA and folded four sets of 80 white cards for when we start stamping Christmas cards next.  :)  

I didn't want to say anything on the blog in case Leah peeked, but that's what I had been working on this last week. 

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And they surprised me, too, and already had the shoe bench together!  We knew it would be too long for this side of the entryway so all this will be moved to...

...this side.  And the bookcase will be moved to the other side.  Another project that will be done in increments.  (I didn't feel up to it last night--just said leave it for now.) 

And where will the old wire and wood shoe rack go (that used to be where the shoe bench is temporarily sitting now)?  Don't laugh. 

Well, you can laugh if you want to.  ;)  It's going on top of the dresser where the fish tank used to be in the bedroom to give me extra storage shelving. 

I never care what something looks like to anybody else, to be honest.  If it works for me, I will use furniture in peculiar ways--LOL!  You can never have enough storage space, right?  ;)

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So now that I have my erasable labels and things shifted about like they are...I guess it's finally time to get back to more cleaning and organizing around here.  As long as I have to move the bookcase in the entryway (which means empty and clean it)--there may be some more purging to freecycle involved there, too.  :)

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Karma is fascinated with the new bench.  No surprise.

Seeing the world from a new angle is always intriguing.  She has her eyes riveted upon her string toys that reside on top of the bookcase.  She seems to be calculating the odds of the additional 19.5 inches somehow providing her the impetus to fly lightly up to actually reach that pinnacle where her treasures lie.  

Dream on.

It is a little unnerving when I'm in the kitchen, though, to see a cat's head poke around the corner almost three feet off the ground!  Makes one feel like Alice in Wonderland or something.  Karma is, shall we say, quite solidly earthbound.  Regardless of her perpetual hopes and dreams, she cannot gracefully leap about like her more slender brethren.  ;)

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Dagan brought cords along and messed with the antenna trying various configurations.  We settled on what appeared to be the best one...at least for last night.  TV over the airwaves can be quite the fickle friend.  Picture the days of rabbit ears covered in tin foil and I am one step above that--LOL!  ;)  All this time with antenna dilemmas has taught me one thing, though--I could get along with just my laptop these days.  Most broadcast TV channels (except for ABC) I can watch easily for free online.  And I can watch Netflix streaming or a DVD on my laptop, too--so I could survive quite well.  Already have been, for that matter--LOL!  

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 Leah will be all done working after next Friday!!  Through emails and links I have been learning all about the new products they have for babies these days--wow!  They have the coolest stuff!  Quite different than almost 40 years ago, that's for sure.  You'll hear and see more about baby stuff over the next few months, I'm sure.  ;)

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Well, just wanted to pop in on this dark day.  So dark, in fact, that this is a shot I just took of Miss Karma on the shoe bench without a flash.  (Yes, she is still plotting and hoping and dreaming.)

I don't tell her she can't manage this feat of fantasy.  

One should never crush another's dreams. 

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See you again soon.

Keep dreaming!

Keep smiling!

:) :)

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  “They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.” 

Tom Bodett