February 27, 2023 Monday--12:30am

Early morning again!

This week is mostly a ton of pictures.  Leah sent me a bunch of them from their trip to Vegas and I just picked random ones...don't ask me where they were--lol!  I was married (briefly) in Vegas at the justice of the peace--second marriage (only lasted a year).  Let's just say it was a long, long time ago.  I was 30 years old--1981.  Vegas looks just as bizarre but even flashier and more colorful!!  I didn't think that was possible--LOL!

I think Leah might have made sure she got a close up of these finches for me, but I don't know.

What a fancy aviary!

Even the ceilings were all movement and lights--so very flashy!

I didn't know Boba Fett was in Vegas--LOL!

Leah got a selfie with mini-Liberty.

At home we were having snow storms, wind chill advisories, and blizzards--LOL!

Michal on the left, Amber on the right poolside and Leah in a lounge chair.

Besides seeing Penn & Teller and eating at a fancy restaurant they drove very expensive cars around a track (got deals on Black Friday--lol!).

There was a better pic of Michal and Amber smiling but this picture was the one that cracked me up.  I love the spontaneous shots.

Another pic when not expecting it--concentration.  Not sure what they were doing.

Anyways, Leah said she had a really great time...even though she wasn't expecting people smoking everywhere...both cigarettes and grass (legal there).  Her asthma really kicked up a storm and she slept a lot when she got home...but she was better in a day or so.

Before she left--Liam would definitely think this was more important--Liam had a very loose tooth.  

Pictures were sent to Gramma.

The tooth didn't come out until Mama was home again.

The one next to it is loose now, too.  The tooth fairy will be busy.  :)

Now, my pics from this week will seem pretty dull after Las Vegas and first tooth coming out...but I just took pics this week of the things that make me happy.  

The Critter Cafe, of course.

And the critters really did need some help this last week with the cold temps and the snowstorms and blizzard winds.

Blooming flowers...

...always bring a smile in the dead of winter.

Really lifted my spirits this week, Janie!

More snow drifting on the patio.

Arctic hares stopping by for a nibble, too.

A small covey of six huddled behind a big snow clump up on the snowbank to protect themselves against the high winds.

More flower pics.

The whole place smells like spring!

And Miss Allie never fails to cheer my soul.

I got a notice that my Medicaid card was going to be canceled the end of the month because I never turned in my forms.  Was on hold for 45 minutes to find out that the Fargo office is at least six weeks behind...but yes, they did get my paperwork...BUT I no longer have a worker...so not only are they six weeks behind, but I will just get the next available worker who is free to deal with my forms.  This also means I probably won't have any money in my EBT account for food, either, in March.  That stack of paperwork was for both my Medicaid and EBT.  But it will get straightened out eventually.  Going to be fun to explain to Sanford that they will just have to wait and send bills through again in a month or two.  Luckily all places seem to work at a snail's pace--so they might not even notice. ??  Always something, eh?

I have basically felt pretty much the same--as far as both shingles and the side effects go.  So just hanging in there.  Watching shows.  Resting.  Waiting.  Enduring.  Feeding the critters.

I did eat the candy bars and cut out the fronts of the packages to put them on the frig.

Liam's.

Ian's.

So, for me it was a quiet, rather immobile week.

Waiting for all the shingles scabs to be gone.

Still have a rash, though...

...and the biting, stabbing, prickly pain.

So, I take it easy...and let the partridges be on alert.

I am soooo glad that I don't have any appointments to go to until March 20th!!  It still feels like I should have something soon.  After over a year and a half it is hard to change gears.  But I am so grateful to be left alone to just endure this crazy shingles stuff and that I don't have to do too much.  Laundry, nuking meals (Leah has dropped off foods!), feeding critters, and scooping the litter box.  That's about it for me.  Mostly watching shows and writing letters or, honestly, trying not to move.  The darn shingles could last for weeks, I guess.  I'm surprised at how even when most of the scabs are gone I still have a rash and all the pain.  I guess I just knew very little about shingles.  Wish I still didn't--LOL!

Anyways, it was a quiet week.  Keanna came to clean on Tuesday.  Leah is stopping by tomorrow with the boys to help me with a few things.  One of these days I'll be able to wear clothes again--lol!  Until then...be on R&R in Fargo.  :) :)  Till next week, my friends.  

February 20, 2023 Monday--12:15am

Technically it is Monday.  

Being on steroids I am awake much later than usual and hungry all the time, so I figured I'd just start blogging now and see how far I get.  I'd be happy to blog early again.  That's been working well for me lately.

  Been a better week, for sure!  The burning biting shingles still has me in its grip, though, so I can't type for very long...BUT...I am now able to hand write for longer periods of time so I have been catching up with letters!!  At least able to do something, eh? 

The steroids seem to be just what I needed to help boost my very slow recovery.  I am headed in the right direction finally...seeing more improvement than I had since November!   It feels like my body was just waiting for some actual assistance.  :) 

I started on the steroids Tuesday morning.  (Since they make you restless and antsy I can see why they say take them in the morning...just forgot that from last time a few years ago when my leg mysteriously swelled up--lol!)  By that evening I could breathe through one nostril!!  And have been able to breathe through one or the other ever since!!  That is the first time in over six months I can breathe with my mouth closed!!  Oh, the little things we take for granted, eh?

And even by the first night I actually had a tiny bit of saliva!  Over these past six days I have even more and my mouth is getting less sticky...and my eyes less grainy and dry...and my knees, ankles, and knuckles are less swollen, red, and painful.  I'll take it!!  Very exciting to have some relief after all these many months.  Even if it is partial...just a hint of normalcy...or my old normalcy...whoohoo!!  It is quite early in the game but I believe I'm on the path to recovery.  I would be sooooo thrilled to just get back to my old disabled limitations.  Everything is relative, isn't it?  LOL!  :) 

The verdict on the poo situation is far from in because I had to take Imodium just to get to the appointments--lol!  But I have hopes of all that eventually getting back to my old IBS issues--LOL!  (If I am lucky maybe even better?!)  I don't want to be greedy, though, and jinx myself.  Even my brain fog feels like it is lifting a bit.  Which makes me immediately start to plan and plan--since I still am basically pretty non-functional but my mind is busy again.  ;)  I am back to sorting, purging, and reorganizing my new home in my head--LOL!  Can hardly wait till I can get back to it in the flesh.

Oh, and as far as I know the floor guy didn't make it over last week, so hopefully this week for the second options.  

Tuesday, when I started the steroids, was Leah and the boys shopping day.  I had a few groceries this week...and the boys surprised me for Valentine's Day.  They got Valentine stickers when they were at Target and then they covered a couple Lily's chocolate bars with them for me!  Ian's on the left and Liam's on the right.

We had a blizzard that night.  Not a ton of snow but high winds of 50 mph.  Middle of the night (awake due to steroids) I got a virus--or malware attack--on my laptop.  Someone commented on my blog post that I hadn't seen for a really long time.  I clicked on their name to go to their blog and wham!  

When I tried to "X" click the boxes away they just popped right back and multiplied.  Tried restarting the laptop.  Nope...still there.  So I shut it down.

Wednesday I let Dagan and Leah know via text that I had big troubles.  Dagan said he'd stop by after work.  You really find out how much you miss the internet when it is suddenly gone--lol!  

Yes, I know I do have access on my cell phone, but I am like a babe in the woods on there.  Can't figure most of it out to save my life--lol!  Glad I had the freezing birds to keep me company all day.  ;)

When Dagan showed up he found another box of flowers outside my door.  Same exact flowers and card and pitcher to put them in from Janie Junebug.  

Turned out the first bouquet was supposed to have been here end of January and probably got lost along the way.  She didn't get charged twice.  And you may notice none of the roses actually opened up and the greenery was dying already on the first one.  Twas a flowery fluke to my advantage, eh?

Anyways, Dagan messed and messed with my laptop and it was such a stubborn virus he couldn't get it out easily...and then he got a call that he had to go back to work...so he took my laptop with him.  

So it was another sunny cold day of Critter Cafe customers and binge watching Vikings: Valhalla and The Crown on Netflix.  Still had my TV streaming channels, thank goodness.  I don't have broadcast TV or cable--but these days you don't need them to have things to watch, that's for sure.  

And I connected with the dermatologist.  Good Lord!  The earliest consultation I could get was in August!  If the sore goose egg on my head bothers me or changes in any way I think I will just go to urgent care.  

Allie has been keeping my non-functional self company.

Thursday Leah dropped off my laptop on her way to do errands.  Dagan had to completely strip the brains and start over!  So it was quite the bug!!

I wished I had tried to use it a little bit before she left...because she had forgotten all the old-lady-with-bad-eyes-and-a-heavy-hand-from-learning-to-type-on-an-Underwood adjustments that need to be made--ROFL!  I thought I was really screwed because Leah was leaving town in the morning for a girl's trip to Las Vegas with her siter, Michal, and best friend, Amber.  Not going to be back till Monday.  I fully expected to be in old lady hell trying to type this blog--but Leah managed to stop back after she was done with errands to enlarge my font--calm down my cursor and make me have to click things to choose them and not just breathe wrong--enlarge the cursor and have it change color depending on what it sits on so I can find the darn thing--and we inevitably forget to connect the laptop to my printer so she did that, too--ROFL!  All that is more Leah's domain.  She has helped her grandparents all the time with their laptop issues, too.  It is not in Dagan's normal wheelhouse--LOL!

Thank you, Leah!!!

I hope she has had a blast on her well deserved vacation...which miraculously was perfectly timed.  I told her to celebrate HER being cancer free, too!  She has been there for me through all of this...almost every appointment and infusion...been cooking for me and helping me out in all kinds of ways.  Her sister had wanted them to make this trip since maybe before covid it sounded like...what perfect timing it turned out to be, eh?  I can hardly wait to hear about Penn & Teller and all the other plans they had to fill each day (not gamblers).  

Friday-- till now...

The new bouquet is really gorgeous...

...and the orange roses are open wide!

I am still hurtin' with the shingles, but better than it was a week ago.  Am on the mend with some of the Keytruda side effects.  Able to hand write again with a lot of breaks.  Did laundry and got everything put away for the first time in months...even if it took me the rest of the day.  :)   And I am making plans in my head for where my pen case stuff will go...and what all needs to finally be in the same room--like all my writing stuff (pens, inks, tablets, journals, calligraphy supplies, letter tablet decorating supplies, my wax seal supplies...and there is probably more--lol!).  I can't imagine my writing supplies or my art & craft supplies not being scattered in every room and down the hallways and even in my garage--lol!  Keeps my steroid-restless-antsy-brain busy and me very happy to think about it all...while I wait to feel decent enough to actually start gathering supplies together.  Now--if we can just get the basement floor done, eh?  ;)

Meanwhile, Allie is just as happy that I am her barely functional napping companion.

Oh, and I am sooo glad to be at Sanford.  Been bothering me that all this time they told me I had three liver tumors and I only had two and a hemangioma.  Sanford even went back to my original MRI to verify that I only had two tumors.  I looked it up and hemangiomas are common--a tangle of blood vessels that can be found in many organs--even the brain.  About 20% of people have them and they are not anything to worry about (unless they are huge, I guess).

Then--since they did keep saying that the two tumors that were left were shrinking...then neither of them could have been the hemangioma because it doesn't change size and it is still there right now.  So then they either recognized their mistake and just told me the third one disappeared to save face or another lab tech couldn't find the third tumor because they recognized a hemangioma (but I do not remember ever seeing or looking that term up before and I would have wondered what the heck it was) and just blew it off and didn't mention it...??? Just strange to me.  Not that it matters now.  I need to toss it out of my brain, right?  The two tumors are gone.

Once I get the bladder scope done then we will know for sure that I am cancer free.  Double checking where the scan might not catch it...where this all began...back when they told me I would have to have my bladder removed and have a urine bag the rest of my days.  Whew!  All this has been going on since June of 2021.  Goodness!  Hard to wrap my head around all this may be truly be over with and I really am down to maintenance checks.

Probably because I still feel like crap--ROFL!  But getting better.  A little faster than I was before steroids.  And I'm focusing on planning where my stuff is going to go...and how much can I fit in the new dressers and bookcases...and how much can I purge and donate and toss...and being able to have paper chats again...and when will I be able to work on cards...and play in my art journals...

I know.  Anxious to be functional again.  Steroids make me a bit less patient--LOL!  But all is well.  I do love the Sanford Health System.  I didn't realize how much I didn't feel safe or cared for there...until I do now.  I can't talk about it or I get all wet-eyed.  

Life is good.

I am blessed.

In so very many ways.

Till next week, my friends!   

February 13, 2023 Monday--5:30pm

Wonderful news!!!

I had to pop in to tell you--no tumors!  I have some steroid medication for a month that should help get me on a recovery from the side effects of Keytruda.  Will have a CT scan in 3 months to keep an eye on me...but no more Keytruda.  :)

I don't think I mentioned that I bonked my head a couple months ago and still have a weird goose egg swelling.  I thought I had told Leah but never had.  Sending me to a dermatologist to have it checked out.  (I think my body just said it had enough other more important things to deal with using my lower amount of white blood cells and deemed it not as important to bother healing--lol!)  And eventually they also want me to have my bladder scoped to double check there are no growths in there because the scans only show so much with the bladder, I guess.

In fact, I only had two tumors in my liver to begin with and not three.  One they thought was a third tumor was something else not to worry about--and I still have that.  So when Essentia said one tumor had disappeared and I had two left I really only had one left.

The new doctor was super nice and thorough.  We really liked him.  Such exciting news!!  The cancer is gone!!!  But that is why he wants a double check with a scope in my bladder to make sure nothing is showing up there, either.  More conclusive than with a scan, I guess. 

Leah's been here helping me again.  Here she is re-writing all my passwords.  (I have old stuff from over ten years ago--was a real mess of scribbles and chaos to find anything and it drove her nuts--lol!) 

Miss Allie was keeping an eye on her.

A little disappointed she wasn't moving around and was sitting at the table for so long--LOL!

Anyways, had to post a quick blog to let you know!!  Cancer free (most likely but will know for sure after bladder scope)!!  Have steroids to hopefully help me to get well again...or at least get heading back to my normal crummy feeling self.  Life is good.  If the shingles didn't hurt so much I would be doing a happy dance.  ;)

More next Monday.  :) :)

February 12, 2023 Sunday--2pm

Good afternoon!

Decided that since I am meeting my new oncologist tomorrow that I would blog today instead.  

First--Allie wants to say hi.  She is not one to be ignored--lol! 

Monday

I had nice catch up chats with two friends--on the phone (a rarity for me)--Linda (grew up next door to and have known since I was five years old) and Bonnie (have known since the 90s when I joined a women's spiritual group in Minneapolis).  Was so nice to reconnect and hear their voices and laughter!

Tuesday

I made it to the new hospital for my CT scan!   Leah and the boys took me and waited in the waiting room--which had a kid's room with a TV that had on Disney Plus!  

A very nice young man did my scan.  What a coincidence that his mother has had shingles for four months and also has fibro.  Nicer machine at Sanford.  It starts out low so is easier to get onto the platform...then raises you up to put you through the kind of doughnut tunnel.  He was very good at getting the IV in, also.  It was painful on the shingles, had to go braless (luckily it is cold so I had a coat on till I went back for the scan), but it went quickly and smoothly.

Leah and the boys dropped me off and went for their usual Tuesday grocery and other errands shopping trip.  They came by later to drop me off some Keto bread (by Brownberry) and the boys wanted to try some of the bread to make toast.  Sure!  They loved it. 

Leah had picked me up some 3M hooks so  she could put up my new kitchen items I bought a while back.  

Since I won't have a stove or oven in my kitchenette when I move I was thinking of ways I can still have trivets and potholders...because I will still have some type of toaster oven or air fryer or something on the counter that I can use.  So I bought these silicone flower shaped trivets that wouldn't look too bad hanging on the wall above the sink...   

...and a pair of oven gloves I will hang on the side of my frig.

So far I have been using them and haven't missed my old trivets and potholders I keep under my oven in the bottom drawer...so I think these will work well.  The gloves are big but I am getting used to them.  A bit awkward but I really don't have to worry about steam burning me with these. That's so nice!

Wednesday

Managed to do laundry again.  Hadn't put anything away from the last time--or has it been last two times!  Just grabbing things off the table and from the basket since it is mostly just towels, nightgowns, underwear, and socks--lol!

Thursday

Allie was watching her CatTV.

I got the results online from the scan late in the evening.  Had to look up several medical terms, but my impression is that the news looked pretty good!  Tumors might even be gone?!  I'll find out more tomorrow when I meet Dr. Failing.

True--my bloodwork wasn't great.  Low white blood cell count and highish on glucose.  I can remember seeing it was a tiny bit high on glucose from bloodwork done at Essentia, but they never mentioned anything about it to me.

Well, I typed in immunotherapy and pre-diabetes...and guess what?  Keytruda came up by name.  *sigh*  I never saw that listed on their list of side effects.  Be interesting to see what Dr. Failing has to say.  This is the highest mine has been (I think it was 117 and normal is 90?)...and I am on a low carb diet with Keto.  

I am so curious to meet a new doctor and see how he is and if I like him.  :)

Friday

Leah came over in the late afternoon with egg cups I can nuke and to help me with a lot of things I haven't been able to do recently.  She cooked up some ground turkey for me, gathered my trash, emptied the big box of kitty litter into the bin, brought a birthday card down to the mail and checked my mail for me, emptied my dishwasher, brought out my trash--and warned me not to try it on my own because it was ice like glass out there.  And when she first came she found a box of flowers outside my door!!  So Leah even got them cut and into the pretty pitcher that came with them.

Thank you so very, very much Janie!!

Leah also set up a food app on my phone that she and Dagan are using.  She doesn't think I am eating enough...and I guess I am often not even eating 1000 calories a day.  So I will try to eat more often.  Was nice to have a little more time with sweet Leah.  :)

Saturday

The one thing I got done--little at a time--all day long.  TaDa!!

I finally got all the letters set up and ready to go!  15 of them waiting.  So, I will eventually get back to all of you wonderful people who write and send cards!  Very frustrating to not be able to do things like that I enjoy so very much...due to the shingles curse--lol!  I am very slowly getting better.  A bit disappointed that the pain level hasn't gone down much since the blisters have been crusting over.  I thought it would hurt less, you know?  Still pretty dreadful, but better than it was a week ago.  

Anyways, I worked at getting the laundry actually put away--all week--and finished by yesterday.  Hurray!  Was motivated by all that Leah got done that had me so totally overwhelmed.  So I worked 10-15 minutes at a time and got all the letters ready to go, too.  Felt sooo good.

Leah sent some pictures.

  

The boys love to go to the wall climbing place (owned by a friend of the family) and will go every week when they can.  

The walls are changed up often.  The boys get good exercise going there, that's for sure.  Here they are taking a break.

The basement floor!  

The man came over and put down three samples.  It's done on the floor where the shower will be in the bathroom so it won't show.

We like the middle one the best so far.  Much closer to what we had expected from the original samples, as you can see.  I am only seeing the photos just as you are, but Leah said she and Dagan wanted to see the last option he had (another layer on top of these, I believe).  He might even be coming tomorrow to put down the last option.  I am already much happier.  And he is not charging extra for it.  Hurray!  (Just putting everything behind schedule--LOL!)  But this already looks way better!!  And then it will be sealed and burnished or polished when he's all done so it will have a shine to it.

I was hoping to be moved in by this coming fall, but who knows?  Whenever it gets finished.  We are not on a timeline, really.  And, obviously, I haven't been able to go through all my things and purge as quickly as I expected...and I fully expected to be very slow--ROFL!  So, it just gives me more time to sort and purge over here, eh?  I will probably need every one of those months, to be honest.  ;)

Well, posting really early for me.  I started on the blog yesterday.  Little bits at a time works especially well for me right now..."baby steps".  (I always chuckle remembering that movie--What About Bob?) 

I am excited to meet the new oncologist tomorrow and am hoping for (and kind of expecting--knock on wood) good cancer news.  (From what I could understand it sounded like the tumors might possibly be gone!?  But then I am not that conversant in medical speak.)  

I still have a long way to go to get my health back--or what health I did have--lol!  I know I am not in good shape right now...at all.  And that's besides this icing on the cake--shingles.  I am hoping to get steroids or something to help jump start my system for the better.  I have inflammation throughout my body.  We'll see how they are at Sanford about all these issues.  I think just time will help, too.  So fingers crossed for good news on the tumors...and that no cancer has appeared or will appear anywhere else.  

Thank you for every single kind thought you have sent my way.  I can feel them even from the people who don't ever comment.  Thank you so much.  Thinking positive.  Till next time...  

February 6, 2023 Monday--12:45am

Good barely Monday!  

I've kind of been okay with starting to work on the blog on Sundays--especially since I have felt so crummy for so long and can only do a little at a time.  Been working on this since this afternoon...and now it is technically Monday--so I will post early again.  :)

Well, got diarrhea so couldn't make it anywhere on Monday and had to cancel the CT scan.  Leah dropped off Imodium.  Sooo miserable.  Nicki (my nurse navigator at Sanford) wanted me to get in to the walk-in clinic and I finally made it into urgent care Tuesday evening.  Yes, I have shingles.  I got an anti-viral prescription and another one for nerve pain (that apparently does nothing for the actual sharp burning pain when I'm awake but has been helping me sleep better--so, I'll take it--lol!).  

[Note: I had to laugh--Essentia finally called me on Tuesday afternoon...to make an appointment for an infusion.  No thank you.  Now they know I am getting my cancer care elsewhere.]

Anyone who's had shingles knows this has been one horrible week.  I was too miserable to make it to see my new oncologist on Friday--blisters bursting and awful pain.  (Plus the boys were both sick with the stomach flu Thursday night.)  So nice to have Nicki now.  She takes care of cancelling and rescheduling my appointments for me and keeps in touch.  I am re-scheduled for my CT scan on Tuesday (which I want to make come hell or high water!) and for meeting Dr. Failing on Monday the 13th (so I will post next Sunday probably).  Been a rough week...and still feeling about the same.  Miserable.  But the blisters have been crusting over now, so I don't think I am contagious anymore or won't be soon.

All this makes the end of the month tasks so difficult to pull off...like banking, getting my rent check down to the office (Leah saved the day for me), filling out a wad of paperwork for the state, birthday cards, and setting up my bullet for February.  I managed.  Barely.  But even the movement for writing or typing is more painful...well, even sitting perfectly still is painful--lol!  Wearing clothes...showering...you name it.  Shingles is the pits.  Believe it when people tell you--lol!  I had one shot but not the second one (forgot in the maze of health issues)...so if this is better than I might have had...whew!!  I can't imagine.  Of course Keytruda seems to have made everything worse for me, so who knows?  

I have had letters to set up for answering...but haven't been physically up to it yet.  Sorry.  Hopefully this week, my paper chat friends.  :)  

Caroline, my former cleaning girl for over a decade, called and we chatted up a storm!  She has a new baby girl, Sophie, who's already 4 1/2 months old!  I can't believe her Parker is already seven!  I've known her since she was a young college girl.  Was soooo nice to catch up.  :)  

Well, you may remember my showing you this cupboard jammed full of cups and glasses.  There was no room for my new tea cups and most of my Yeti cups I use all the time.  I did clean and purge in here the week before last but forgot to get pictures.  Obviously didn't do this last week when I was barely functional--this was pre-shingles--lol!

 It is not really reorganized totally yet--but look at all that room!!  I was ruthless!

Two small boxes full to donate!

I did find a sentimental little glass I will use for my daily pill glass.

My late dearest friend, Ruby, and I used to hit all the antique and junk places together when I lived in Wisconsin.  This silly little glass was probably an old jelly jar at one time, but I fell in love with it on sight.  Bought it for a quarter or less, as I recall.  Used it as a juice glass for years.  It was in the back of the cupboard...sadly forgotten.  Now I will use it every day...and smile...as I think of sweet Ruby.  :) :)

Was super cold all week until Saturday.

When it is really cold...

...it is constantly busy at the Critter Cafe.

Even the arctic hares come when it is light out.

We had wind chill warnings day after day again for a while.

Occasionally a covey of partridges hid under the little tables to avoid the wind.  (There were eight of them packed under there.)  The cotton tails like to huddle under there, too, sometimes.

Saturday it went from -29 wind chill during the night to 34 degrees during the day!  Supposed to be 36 degrees today!  Crazy weather.  And as soon as it even gets into the 20s then I suddenly don't have critters here gobbling desperately all day long.  I can put out less seed.  Survival takes less energy the warmer it gets, I guess.

The boys had some fun times!  With money saved from Christmas a geological kit was purchased from Target.  

Here's Ian using a hammer and chisel to slowly chip away at the rock to find little gemstones inside that big lake rock.  Even had safety glasses--nice!

Leah said they found all the gemstones.

Saturday morning they went to the West Fargo Library to this robotics event for kids.

Somehow they used this code of colors...

...to draw on paper...

...to make the tiny robot ball thingies move to do a zig zag or turn or whatever.  Nothing I understand the workings of, that's for sure.

Then in the afternoon they went to the Plains Art Museum for a Kids Quest program called Hurray!  It's clay!

Leah felt bad she forgot to take a photo of their final projects.  

They made some kind of fish bowls?  They both decided to do theirs based on the game Minecraft, Leah said.  (Gramma hasn't a clue what that entails--lol!)  Anyways, they finished them, glazed them, and they will be fired so that they can pick them up next week. 

 Such fun things to do.  So glad they were well again so they didn't miss anything this weekend.  They both woke up barfing during the night Thursday night but then were fine again by Friday night and been fine since.  Nice!!  Glad they are so resilient!  :)

So, all I have to do is get through making it to the scan on Tuesday afternoon.  That's the big goal for this week.  :) :)  My life has become quite limited in scope--lol!  Make it to the scan and get about a dozen letters set up and ready for paper chats...that would be wonderful.  Sad when those things aren't a low bar--lol!

Hoping for a good week!

For you all, too.  :)

Till next time...