November 9, 2020 Monday--11:30am

Good Morning!

This was the first year since I moved here five years ago that the trees across the way didn't change from right to left.  They changed right, left, and then center.  Well, that's 2020 for you. 

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I worked on a bonus class from my Wanderlust course election night.  I love mandalas so this was a good choice for me to play with while I watched the partial results.  Kept me calmer while we were all left hanging.  Instead of doing all the inking first she wanted us to be looser and put in the color first sometimes.  Well, I made the entire mandala with my watercolor pens first.  (Was going for portability.)

Then added the pen doodling.

May not seem much looser than I normally am--but it is.  Somewhat.

I will have to try this class again when I am not so tense--LOL!

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Like most of us I was waiting and waiting all week to hear the news of who won the election.  Some of us were upset with the results and some of us were happy.  Let's just say I have been sleeping much better since Saturday.  

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Otherwise is was a usual week with laundry, trips to the dumpster & garage, cooking, baking, running the dishwasher, and feeding critters.  Had packages come from Amazon...board games for Christmas!  Gramma will want to play, too.  Liam will need help from an adult...so just maybe he might accept help from still fairly scary Gramma he doesn't see often enough...?  ;)

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Chutes and Ladders, Sorry...

...Parcheesi, and a kind of Connect Four--wooden travel size, not the original game. 

Saw warnings about ordering early this year since the mail can be slow so I have the main big stuff already.  Can pick up a couple small things next month so they have something just for themselves since all these presents are for the both of them together.  We got games like that for my brother, sister, and I.  They were really fun but we still wanted something just for ourselves, you know?

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Speaking of for yourself...lol!  I finally got a cheap little laundry cart and tiny wastebasket for in-between the washer and dryer. 

 I had one at my old apartment but it was falling apart and I never did replace it when I moved here.  This one was inexpensive and it is a bit rickety but I don't need to pull it out very often so I hope it holds together for a while, anyways.

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Woke up to snow again this morning.

The partridges have been here five six times already.

Well, I think I have at least two coveys--possibly three--so I shouldn't say "the" partridges--LOL!  Partridges or some of the partridges is more accurate, I guess.  :)

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I have pictures from Leah from the past month.  These are included probably more for Gramma than anyone else--LOL!  But here you go... 

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Their cat Blink likes to watch Ian at school.  She's perched up on the ledge observing all the activity.

Leah added some of our oval wooden labels to the taboret drawers.

Nice and organized.

The long hanging file folder thingie is working really well, too.

I am glad to see things are going so well for kindergarten at home.  I think Ian loves his little laptop.

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They had six pumpkins from the garden for Halloween carving.

One was green.

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We had snow so many times in October I don't know when this was from exactly but I love the handprints on the snowy deck.

The boys have their own snow shovels.  Here they were helping on the driveway.

Of course one must take time out to make snow angels...

...and snowballs.

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I loved this picture of the boys both busy with their own art projects.

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There were icicles in their tree in the front yard...

...almost looked like decorations put there on purpose--LOL!  Bet it looked pretty with the colored lights turned on at night.

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The boys spending time reading with Daddy.

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I was really impressed by this puzzle Ian must have cut out himself.

A pumpkin puzzle.

Not sure if this was a print off from school to color and cut out, but that would be my guess.  Looks like lots of fun...and they were trying to find the last piece--lol!

Ian made a spiderweb from masking tape...with things the spider caught in it, too.

Looks like a puzzle Liam would like to try.

I think Ian made this spooky mask.

And I can tell they got packets of sugar free candies from Mama and Daddy.  I think they had a hunt for them in the house.

Can you tell when we've been in quarantine for one reason or another the past 5-6 weeks that we get a bit out of touch--LOL!  We'll finally be able to see each other again after Thursday.  :)

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On one of the nice days this past week (where we were in the 60s and even hit 70s) Mama was taking pictures of the boys in front of the tree in the front yard.   

I see Liam mostly like this...more somber.

But he can be silly like his big brother...

...and smile a lot, too.

Ian's hair is pretty long.

Leah has trimmed it a couple of times, I think, but he is determined to grow it long like Mama's.  Pretty soon he'll have to start wearing it in a ponytail like his Uncle Chuck.  

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Anyways, I can hardly wait to be able to go over for a bubble visit again.  :)

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Blogger has been really erratic--so what else is new?  First, quite suddenly, I was getting all your comments in my inbox!  But then none at all.  So if I responded, you know you were one of the ones who made it through--LOL!  Not something I can depend on anymore, I guess.  But I read every word.  :)  I don't want to try turning off moderation because I am still getting quite intimate regular invites for sexual romps.  ;)

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Until next week.  :) :)

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"Strange is our situation here upon earth.  Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine purpose.  From the standpoint of daily life, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of other men--above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.  Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received and am still receiving."

Albert Einstein

November 2, 2020 Monday--11:30am

Good morning!

Well, first off...I was able to read every word of each of your comments but this time after I posted them to my blog none of them showed up in my inbox so I could respond to you.  And I have been in and double checked my settings like six times...should be working.  Well, I can comment on your blogs...so far--LOL!  

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I know I could go back to how I did it years ago and comment publicly on my blog.  I don't know if I remember how, could figure it out, but don't really want to, to be honest.  I have just really preferred a private email conversation...for years.  I know a few of you always respond with a direct private email instead of the public comment on the blog and that's great!  The comments that come to my inbox after moderation--well, I don't actually get an email address.  It's through Blogger somehow.  But many of you have connected via email in the past and so we know we won't lose touch no matter how Blogger messes with us--LOL!  And some of us have connected via snail mail, too!  So--if you don't want to lose touch feel free to email me soulcomfort (at) gmail.  And any of you who would like to do snailmail...let me know via email.

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I have padfolios that I set up for letters.  Each one has a letter I shall answer and I pick out paper and an envelope and address it...so they are ready to go.  I think there are ten here right now.  (Much easier to reach them and my pens when I am settled into my chair with my lapdesk now that I have lazy susans everywhere--LOL!)

I may be slow to respond (quite often), but maybe you can see why.  I do love sitting down for a quiet, personal, paper-chat with each of you.  Thank you for being so patient my snail mail friends.

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Anyways, back to the past week.  I made Halloween cards for the boys and a sympathy card for my BFF from high school's mom.  I moved all that furniture to the garage.  Made room for my old end table.  You can see the indentations from where the feet were on the red end table--hardly any room between it and the patio blinds.  (Sorry about my finger in the corner of the photo--LOL!)

It looked like this one on the other side of the room by my big chair.

Leah dropped off the old oak end table on Tuesday.  Look at all the room I have now!  Much easier to open and close the blinds, I tell you!

The bottom two out of the three drawers are filled with cat toys--LOL!  ;)

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Also on Tuesday I had our video call with Leah and--the big news--Ian lost his first tooth!

A bottom one in the front.  He tucked it into a little pouch for the tooth fairy.

On Wednesday I got a video call from the boys.  Ian wanted to tell me all about it and show me his golden dollar coin from the tooth fairy!  So exciting!  I read more of The Seventeen Little Bears (that was my mom's when she was little). 

Looks like it was quite well-loved.  I think by me, too, as I vaguely recall.

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We also call it the old-timey bear book.  Fun to explain how a family could have 17 children in the first place.  And how the kids used to take metal lunch pails to school...

...and how when people went into the small shops they really used to leave their babies in the carriages outside...and that's how the baby bears got switched while papa bear was inside the post office.

The two papa bears got the right babies back.  Men always wore jackets and hats when they went outside.   Women wore dresses and aprons.  (I remember my grandmother's did.)  Times have changed in almost a hundred years.

We have three more chapters to go (and the baby bears have been switched by accident twice!).  Goodness! 

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I've talked to my mom a couple of times.  One of the hospice nurses tested positive and had seen Mom, but she's feeling fine so far.  That's the only case we know of and the nurse had no symptoms.

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On Thursday Leah and her brother Aaron went to Costco and Leah picked up Ian's work for the month at the school.  Groceries were dropped off in the parking lot--masks and distancing.  I did laundry and worked on Christmas presents for the boys to order in November.  This year it is board games!  :)

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Friday I set up the bullet and finished with a master list of supplements to take and when that is now on the frig.  

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Critter Cafe is always busy since it's been so cold.  But it has all melted away and now this week they're predicting 50s and 60s!  A couple days ago they were saying 40s and 50s...so even warmer.  After freezing cold and snowing 4-5 times...will be quite the change this week.

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Saturday I did the banking for the month.  Amazon has been awful the past two months.  I have ordered from them once a month for years and never had any problems.  The last two months they have been subtracting amounts and adding back in amounts--many of them!?  When you just have a total for one order of several items...well, I could just add up all the Amazon charges and it would come right to the penny.  Even when I ordered all the household and personal goods, etc, with my stimulus check.

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Now it is suddenly such a chaotic mess that I can't tell what is going on.  All I can do is add up the totals of what they have added and subtracted and see if it matches mine.  Doesn't--but the bank says I have ore than I know I do so I will wait and see how this goes.  I thought September was a fluke, but October was worse.  Example: $9.04 taken out, added back in, and taken out again.  There were four different small amounts that were taken out and added back in...and then others added back in that didn't match a single amount--just a total mess.

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I have decided that I am ordering one item at a time.  Separate orders.  Then I will have specific amounts I can track.  Good grief.  Amazon may not like it but it's their own fault and I pay for Prime...so that is what I plan to do.  Not sure for how long, but I need to be able to track my limited funds closely.  Has anyone else seen problems with Amazon and your banking lately?

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Blogger...Amazon...DVD player is dead...

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But...the good news!  Leah brought the DVD player back to Costco on the chance that they'd exchange it.  Don't have the same one anymore but they gave her a refund!!  So I'll have to order a new one.

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And Halloween pics made me smile.  Liam and one of the carved pumpkins.

I thought this was so clever!  Leah strung glow sticks across the yard by the sidewalk and made a sign to help themselves.

Ian and Liam didn't go trick or treating this year.  But others did in their neighborhood...so that was a great solution, I thought.  :)

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Sunday my pill boxes arrived.  I ordered two sets of one week rainbow colored AM and PM pill boxes.  

I need to have various supplements & vitamins four times a day eventually so this is the way I decided to do it.  Easier than trying to keep a tracker on paper for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and before bedtime pills.  I just needed to make a master list for when I set them up each week so I can keep track of which new pill is added as I test them out.  

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Since Leah just got the supplements, she dropped them off late last night and I am setting these up today.  No rush, as the first thing I am adding is actually not a pill but flax meal to my eggs.  [Manageable, but not a big fan.  She wants me to try to take 2-3 tablespoons a day--and I probably only added less than half that.  Going to take some getting used to--LOL!]

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Anyways, I tried adding this video through the new link on Blogger but I can't tell if it is going to work until I post this.  If it doesn't work I will go back to using YouTube.  Regardless--this is something Google made for Leah--I know they do random things that pop up on your phone with pictures--but I have never seen anything like this!  Have you?

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Well, that's it for this week.  I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to, but that is nothing new--LOL!  It was a very nice week, despite the frustration of things not working right.  Maybe my election anxiety is sending out bad vibes to my very apartment and its contents...

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...if so you'd never know it by Annie.  She's been happy and doing great.

(Just to add to the frustration...that, by all cell phone appearances, was supposed to be a closeup--LOL!)  

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Time to try to get the paragraphs and pictures centered and the random space gaps closed up if possible...to see if adding a video works this new Blogger way...post the video on YT if it doesn't...and then call Dagan to wish him a happy 46th birthday!!!

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Till next week!  

Thinking positive! 

Those in the US, be sure to vote if you haven't already. 

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"Imagine a country whose citizens--maybe even its leaders--are brave, calm, and open towards each other; a country whose people realize that all human beings belong together as one family and must act accordingly; a country guided by Common Sense."

Br. David Steindl-Rast