Saturday-6pm

I really do love my jars for storage--been using them for years!

All my flours, meals, and white sugar is kept up above my cupboards.

So, there will be a lot more jars up there when I finally get all these flours on the counter into jars and labeled.

I use jars to store all my smaller amounts of odd rice, dried beans, dried fruit, and all sorts of odds and ends.

I even store all my coffee beans in jars and some of my loose teas.

This is the new cheap blender. I do plan to try to make a smoothie today. But I have to wait a while, as I have just spent time standing and slicing up the pork tenderloin and the chicken breasts--have them labeled and put away in freezer bags.

Last night I did actually get something done, tho--I cut up nine bananas and bagged them up separately for the freezer--for smoothies!

Today I am also washing clothes. I slept really, really well. Amazingly well! I can't remember when I went to bed this morning (night owl that I am), but I slept the whole time in one place and never woke up!!!! Had to be at least 8 hours!! I was so stiff & sore that I could hardly get out of bed when I first got up today. Hot shower and stretching--and off I go! I have some energy today. Use it while it lasts--hehe! Hauled out garbage with my little green cart and got mail. Complete change of pace in DVDs today! Have Chicken Little-Disney and Tsotsi-foreign film.

It rained and was dark (helped me sleep, too), but the sun has come out again. Too bad, actually. We are still labeled as a drought area and the farmers need more rain than this. Despite the rain it is still hot and humid (low 90s today), so I am still closed up with the AC on.

Karma snuck up onto the desk when I wasn't looking while I was typing here! When she was a kitten I used to let her lay in the cubby hole in the corner. I was thinking she remembered that, for some reason. So, I removed a stack of magazines from it to make some room for the much larger cat she is today--and she is snuggled into the cubby hole--sleeping--as I type. That's what she wanted. I guess I will allow her to do that again. May save wear and tear on the gold chair--hehe!

I have been looking online for pictures of some wildflowers. About 8-9 years ago I got a reading from a shaman thru the mail. We became pen-pals and after I got my first computer in 1998 we stayed in touch via email. Doug saw the pictures I posted here of my watercolors and wanted me to paint some wildflowers for him (he loves and grows plants). I suggested a trade for a reading. This is very exciting! He has learned (over the past several years since I had my last reading) how to sever negative psychic cord attachments and volunteered to do it for me, Dagan, and Leah!

Leah said it reminded her, in a way, of what Dr. John does with releasing old negative emotional energy we hold in our bodies. Dr. John does it little by little. Doug would do it all at once. I know he said he would be working on me this weekend. Made me wonder if that had anything to do with me being able to sleep longer last night than I ever have in many, many years??? Who knows? I wonder if those emotional cord attachments could interfere with your sleep? I would imagine they could. You are less defensive when you are asleep. Hummmm?? I'll be very interested to see what his reading says.

Tomorrow is Sacred Circle. Dagan's turn to run the meeting. Maybe an exceptionally good time to be getting spiritually connected, eh? We are all three going to be getting released from old residual bonds! Nice!

I am such a novice painter that I only hope I can manage to create something Doug will like. It may take a few practice sketches and tries--and I am slow as molasses in January anymore--but I am excited about the challange, too! It's going to be a picture with Queen Anne's Lace and Wild Blue Chicory--and maybe some Purple Loosestrife?

Anyways, buzzer just went off on the dryer. Time to change loads of clothes. Maybe even make a smoothie...

Friday-5:45pm

I just discovered that you cannot add photos where you want them later. They just pop up at the top. Okay--too tired to rewrite this and cut & paste does not work on these posts for some reason.

This is my two computers trying to read each other's brains today.

(See below)

And this is the stack of some of the weird stuff I bought at ToChi's yesterday. Dried baby shrimp, wood ears, lotus seeds, lotus root, fermented black beans, crystalized ginger, and an assortment of flours and starches. I also got dark soy sauce, ume vinegar, mochi, and smoked tofu. Mondays are going to get more and more interesting!! hehe!

Anyways---Dagan called and couldn't make it yesterday over lunch to work on the computers. He came today instead. I am able to get online here again. One back-up brain copy worked and one didn't?

Yesterday I had my adjustment from Dr. John. Leah and I ordered our supplements, went to ToChi's, Office Max, and Bed, Bath, & Beyond. I did come home with printer ink and a really cheap blender that claims it can crush ice!! TaDa! Made a small order to CashWise last night that came this afternoon. I watched the specials DVD for Deadwood that came today--the end of season two. Now I'll be waiting for season three to come out on DVD! Dagan says that is all I talk about--Deadwood! hehe!

Am tired and sore, so this will be short. Our supplements were ordered out today and should arrive next week. I have a stack of bags of weird flour and dried ingredients on the counter in the kitchen that I will have to wait to put into jars. Might not even have enough empty jars left? I might have to wait--buy some more jars next month--to finally be able to put away everything. I do love my jars!

Guess I need to rest up. Maybe tomorrow. I also have chicken and pork tenderloin to slice up and freeze. Just a noodle-day. It is hard to explain to people how fibro can suck/drain the energy right out of your muscles so you feel weak as a kitten--(weaker, actually, kittens are pretty darn feisty strong in my personal experience--haha!) You literally can feel too weak to walk far or don't trust yourself to lift or carry anything. By tomorrow I should be feeling better--be able to get a few things done.

Sad--when you think back to what you used to be able to do and now a couple hours of shopping more or less lays me up for a day or two. That is why I try not to think about it--or talk about it much, either. I try to keep my focus elsewhere--find positives to occupy my thoughts. Like tonight--I can have a quiet night and watch Monk (love that show!) and Rescue Me (like a car accident you can't help but look at as you drive by). Play with Karma--read--sleep with no alarm. My lower back hurts less since I have been going to Dr. John. After my pleasant noodle-evening, tomorrow I will have more energy and be less sore. There's always a silver lining! :)

Wednesday-9:30pm

Slept late. A puttery day. Finished watching what I had of the second season of Deadwood. I think I have one more DVD yet to arrive. Still excellent and leaving me waiting for season three to be released! I am very much a Deadwood fan!

Opposite reaction: I was watching Stephen King's last creep-show specials tonight on TNT (Nightmares and Dreamscapes) and they are so pathetic that I just can't finish. I passed last week's offerings altogether and have found that keeping myself busy doing other things while they are on is the only way I can even keep the shows on at all to bother to find out what happens in the end. (Not that King usually has satisfying endings, anyways.) Such decent actors and such terribly lame programs. They are all easily twice as long as they could be, in the first place. Actually, they're five minute ideas that have been stretched out into an hour. Sad. I am sure glad I taped 30 Days!!

Tonight was my night to figure out my budget for the month--get my check tomorrow. Trying to figure out how to fit in some ink for my printer and a blender. Will just have to cut back on food again, I guess. Such is life. :)

I need something "good" sweet around as a substitute for the bad sweets. I have wanted to try to make smoothies and sorbets this summer with frozen fruit, but have no blender. If I don't get one soon, summer will be over. I ran out of my sherbet (and everything else sweet, for that matter) and was searching thru the cupboards for something--anything--sweet. I am giving up so many other things that I suppose it makes the sweets even more important to me--or maybe it's just plain hormones--ha!

Anyways, I discovered some very old baker's chocolate in the pantry and the next thing I knew -- I had brownies! Not a good thing for my healthy diet. So, that backsliding event was the real catalyst for me needing a blender this month. I need to make sure I have enough healthier things to satisfy my sweet tooth for the whole month--apples, cereal, fruits, whatever. And I will go to ToChi's tomorrow with Leah and get the rest of the ingredients to make up my own wheatless flour--so I can make muffins and cookies, too. I will be learning how to make them with applesauce for sweetener, etc--healthier versions, at least. Rice and beans are pretty cheap. I won't starve, that's for sure. Thank goodness my tests didn't indicate any problem with sweets/diabetes!

Big day--for me--tomorrow. Dagan's coming again over lunch to try the spare brain stuff for the computers again. Then later Leah and I will be all over the place--Dr. John's, ToChi's, Office Max, Bed Bath &Beyond (with my 20% off coupon), and who knows where else? I will probably come home broke, sore, exhausted--but hopefully with a blender and some printer ink? :) :)

Tuesday-8pm

Can't believe it! Have been able to have the windows and porch open since last night and not even be uncomfortable in the heat! Cooled off considerably! Ahhhh!

Dagan came over lunch today. Turned out the cord he sent over here won't work in the monitor (or whatever you call the little box with all the lights that "sends" to my laptop). So, he needs something else from home to be able to do the spare brains thing. Eventually it will get done. Good thing there is no hurry.

We aren't meeting for painting tomorrow. Dagan and Leah have a corn feed event they are going to with friends--if it doesn't rain. Hopefully this cooler weather will keep up and it will be very nice for them.

Dagan was back at 4:30pm for his pacemaker check--over the phone. (He's been doing this since he got his first pacemaker at age 12--he's 31.) He and Leah don't have a land line and only have cell phones, which won't work on the machine to transmit properly. So, he comes over and borrows Mom's old-fashioned phone. :)

Last night Dagan brought me to Dr. John's. Bad news! Dr. John, his wife, and new baby girl, Ceydee, are moving to set up a practice in Arizona (his wife is also a chiropractor). They have sold the practice to a new guy, Dr. Mike. Dr. John will be done giving adjustments the end of August but will be around for the re-testing until the end of September. I am happy for them, but will have to ask some questions about payments!! I am just giving him so much a month and still owe him a lot of money!?? (I have a co-payment above what Medicare pays.) How is that going to work? Will I be sending him checks to Arizona? I can't afford to make payments every month to two different chiropractors--so this might alter things considerably? May signal the end of my adjustments for a while--until I have Dr. John paid off? We would still be able to buy supplements from the new guy, of course. He is supposed to be similar in his treatments? I will have some questions, that's for sure.

Going to Dr. John has been the catalyst for the first positive physical improvement I have had in the last thirteen years! The changes have begun and I want to keep them going. I guess I may find out how well I will do with less visits to the chiropractor pretty soon?? I have the feeling I will need to go once in a while, tho, for some time. The changes in eating habits have been pretty much established. The supplements are coming next--we order on Thursday. I am still hopeful that this upward direction will continue. I am off my meds for pain and sleep--and still doing okay. Sleep--as okay as a born night owl can be when left to her own devices--haha!

Anyways, after Dr. John's, Dagan and I went to Hornbacher's grocery store and shopped for dry good ingredients for the three recipes and the fresh stuff for the Mandarin Orange Chicken. We got to their place and were so busy getting all set up with ingredients and doing all this prep work--we totally forgot about starting the rice--chuckle! So, took a lot longer for us to get dinner ready. Plus, we didn't know where everything was in "Leah's" kitchen--chuckle!

Buying dried peppers was absolutely a first for us! We were supposed to roast the dried peppers till they were brown and smelled and then remove them. Well, they are already brown to begin with and didn't seem to change color--and they never had a really strong smell--so we stand there and stir them and smell and stir. Finally we just took them out. We had no idea that the oil was so hot! (We discovered that roasting peppers do not sizzle or make any noise at all?!) When I put the chopped garlic in--it fried up almost instantaneously into little brown specks!! We laughed! Decided our dish needed well-roasted garlic--ha! Only way to learn-- just do it, right?

Anyways, we also discovered that snap peas take longer to cook than snow peas (substitution), so they were quite crunchy (of course, the snow peas might have been also?). Anyways, it was "interesting" as we would say in the Midwest--Dagan and I liked it okay. Mandarin oranges fall apart quickly in heat, BTW--hehe! Odd combinations--peppers and oranges! We'll be brave and try something else new and different next week. (Going to give my Swedish taste buds a real workout!) It was really fun! I was still chuckling to myself as I was writing this. (I bet Leah would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to watch us stumbling thru this recipe and looking all over the kitchen for stuff--hehe!)

The sky has darkened up considerably to the east since I began writing. Maybe another storm passing thru--good! We could use days and days of rain. :) Gotta go....

Monday-3:30pm

Quiet, dark day. Thunderstorms have traveled across the sky. Puddles in the parking lot. We need the rain. Cooled it off--only 91 degrees today.

Dagan is picking me up for Dr. John's after work. Then we go grocery shopping and cook at their apartment--something new and daring for us--hehe! I have three choices for him. Leah won't be there tonight--she is bringing her younger brother and sister school shopping--so it is just Dagan and I and their new wok--haha! Neither of us has ever used it. About time, I guess. :)

Fire alarm chirped off and on in the hallway for a while this afternoon, but never actually went off. Scared the heck out of Karma--she hates the alarm! This is the third time there have been hall alarms going off since I moved here a year and a half ago. A sign? I guess it is time to see about apartment insurance. I have everything I own in this little place. Would be lost without my crafts, art supplies, books, computers, kitchen, fish, clothes, etc....

I have to run over and sign a new lease so I don't get my rent raised. My lease expired this last February and they didn't require us to sign another one. The office called and asked me if I'd like to have one because they might raise the rent. I'd like to sign one for a few years!! Don't want to move and don't want to pay any more for rent!! hehe! :)

Sunday-8:30pm

This is my view every morning as I do my morning pages on my reader's table and check the weather report while I sip on my coffee.

Karma sometimes gets in the mood to paw and knead my neck in the morning instead of just snuggling. She does this in a state of trance--paws at my neck and the side of my face until...

... she falls into a doze for several minutes. She will just as suddenly decide it is time to leave and off she goes--and I can continue with my morning pages (from The Artist's Way). She is quite the lovey-dovey angel in the mornings.

This is where she waits for me to get done on the desk computer. When she was a kitten she was too light to make the back of the chair fall down like it does now.

She is fairly bored while I am on the computer and falls asleep on the top of the gold chair quite often. But she is either up there, sprawled on the floor behind the gold chair, or someplace else nearby where she can keep an eye on me.

In the evenings--she is quite the devil! Full of energy and wants to play hide and seek.

Anyways, this weekend I was cooking up food for the week. I like having some leftovers around that I can throw in the microwave. Made some rainbow bean & ham soup, a beef stir-fry, more rice, and a tuna/noodle/oil & spices dish. I am all set! I was too lazy to do much of anything else so I figured I would cook something.

I have been working on a grocery list for Dagan and I for tomorrow. Leah emailed me and said it will just be Dagan and I cooking tomorrow, she has to do something with her mom and younger siblings. I guess I will get to try their new wok. Dagan, too--I don't think he's used it yet, either. We'll be buying fresh veggies and making something good. (And I get a free meal in the bargain--hehe!)

It is so hot out--just miserable. Today it was 101 degrees--and then the weathermen make it worse by telling you it "feels like" 103 degrees--haha! How on earth do they decide something that subjective? I thought it "felt like" 120 degrees--ha! I opened the porch door for Karma and it was a palpable, thick wall of heat!! Even Karma didn't want to go out. (And I bet they have the windows wide open down on first floor, too! chuckle!)

The weekend seems to have sped by! I caught up on my sleep, and that may be part of the reason it went by so rapidly. It sure was a nice one, tho! :)

Friday-7pm

Dr. John!

And this is his receptionist, Erica.

Leah and I went to Dr. John's yesterday. This time Leah found out how many pills she needed each day for each of her supplements. We'll figure out how many bottles of each one we need to order to last us for two months and order next Thursday. So, the next phase will begin soon! Two months of supplements, eating even healthier, and trying to get some exercise.

We called ToChi's (natural foods place in Fargo) from her car last night and discoverd that the one night they are open later is Thursday! Perfect!! It was like the Universe opening another door for good health--hehe! So, next week after Dr. John's, Leah and I will go to ToChi's and I will look for some of the odder grains/flours and ingredients I need that I can't buy at CashWise. And Thursdays is also the day for the smaller Farmer's Market from 5-7pm in Fargo. So, we might hit that, too.

Leah and I may cook together on Thursday nights, too, when it will work out. Dagan games on Thursdays--but two nights a week might be a bit much some weeks. We will play it by ear. Mondays we will be cooking together for sure, all three of us. So I have to look up a recipe and email or call Leah this weekend to find out what ingredients she already has for Monday. And, since we are planning on buying fresh ingredients, I need a back-up recipe, also, if the pickings are slim--(some odder veggies sometimes in the Chinese cooking--hehe!) I have the patience and time to sit and look things up and make lists--and we both have this same cookbook by Helen Chen. :) This will help to keep us motivated to eat healthier and use fresh veggies, etc--at least for these two months--haha!

I was attempting last night to duplicate the glazing they did in the Watercolor Magic magazine (on the left). I don't have the same colors, for one thing, that they used. But it was interesting to play with. Just one of the ways I can easily use up an evening while I watch TV--hehe!

This morning--woke up and Karma had taken over half the foot of my twin bed. She loves to sprawl. The lump around her is my body pillow--(which has occasionally frightened people passing by my bedroom door over the years because it looks like somebody is in the bed! chuckle!)

Karma--big yawn!! What a life, eh?

She doesn't bother to move when I first get up because I pull over my reader's table with my laptop and do my Morning Pages every morning. She usually interrupts me for some lovin' up time--demands that I hold her for a while. She is so lovey dovey in the mornings and so crazy wild at night!

Right now--Karma and Gracie are out on the porch soaking up the heat and humidity. Me--I pass!! I will remain indoors where it is nice and cool. I hate to even go into the hallways to get my mail.

For the last couple weeks I have been closing the big windows downstairs near the front door almost every day and somebody who lives here keeps opening them up. Nearly 100 degrees and humid and they keep opening wide the windows? I give up. I suppose it is possible there isn't any air conditioning or heat in the hallways here, but opening the windows makes it worse. When they are closed, the hallways eventually get a little cooler from all the people running their air and it seeping under their doors into the hallway, if nothing else. But, there are thermostats in the hallways by the elevator??

Somebody new is here this summer--since last summer--who loves the heat and humidity. We do have quite a few families from Africa living here and a few middle-eastern families (this is a tax credit apartment complex)--maybe they love the heat? Who knows? Maybe that is just being prejudiced? Well, regardless, I just know I give up. I didn't bother to close them today. If they do have AC in the hallways--going to cost the owners an arm and a leg--and then our rent will go up. With the windows open it gets like a sauna in the hallways--especially up here on third floor--heat rises! My place is nice and cool, tho, so I guess I'll mind my own business and leave the windows alone from now on. Pointless and it just irritates me if I put any focus on it, anyways. That is my ranting for today--ha!

Thursday-6pm

Pictures from painting night last night.

Here's Dagan's finished red and black Yin Yang picture.

Leah is still working on her four. Dagan and Leah did their first projects on small canvases--10" X 10" I think. We hang our unfinished pictures on little hooks in their bedroom inbetween the times we paint to get them out of the way. The symbols were pretty dark to see on black, so she is working at doing a lighter layer on the symbols (like on the green one). This isn't a good angle because you can actually see a couple others better, too, than it shows in this photo. I'll have to try for a better shot next time--sorry, Leah! I never know what they look like until I get home.

Dagan started on an abstract. Love the wild colors! He is not sure how to proceed. He can experiment and get wild and crazy--who cares! He and I are just using the inexpensive boards and if we don't like what we get as we are learning, we can always start over...

...which is exactly what I did yesterday. Clean slate! Decided to put on a new coat of darker grey undercoating over the whole thing.

I am just learning and I had started out with too light of an undercoating and used too dark and thick of paint too soon. I hadn't ordered the gesso or retarder until after we had started and that has made quite a difference for me in the scumbling and blending technique. I kind of lost control of my clouds--hehe! So, I am starting over on my dark, stormy sky. This next time I will plan more where the lighter clouds should be--sketch them in--and start there, instead of just starting in one corner and trying to work my way across--hehe!

Regardless, I am having a lot of fun learning this new medium and I was just tickled with the whole being able to start over thing!! I have been dabbling with watercolors for several years and starting over on the same sheet of paper just isn't the case with watercolors. (I have always been too heavy handed with the watercolor paints, too!) I want to try to start again with lighter thinner paint, using the gesso and retarder, and blend-blend-blend till I get the hang of it better. Who knows how many times I might start over--but I am learning every week and having a great time!

I finished season one of The Sopranos and Six Feet Under this week. Tony Soprano found out who tried to whack him, but wasn't able to exact his revenge yet. The funeral home family life has gotten significantly stranger within the one season?? Tonight--I am really looking forward to starting season two of Deadwood, my favorite of these three, so off I go! (The Sopranos would be my second favorite, so far.) Stay cool!

Wednesday-4pm

Karma photos!

It's easier to get photos of her when she isn't looking at you...

Last night I took some photos of Miss Karma and my normal evening once I settle in to watch TV. My furry companion usually takes up most of the room on the foot rest of my lounge chair and snuggles up next to a leg.

She occasionally actually watches television with me. I have even ordered bird documentaries from Netflix and we have watched them together. She will even sit up to watch those! :)

I moved my foot away a little bit to get her face while she slept. Then bent my knee and put my foot up on the foot rest...

So, she snuggled up next to my foot. Is it any wonder why she is a bed hog?!

Note: Big red slipper socks because the AC was working so well. :)

Dagan will be here at about 5pm to pick me up for painting, so brief today.

Tuesday - 7pm

Lots of photos today!

I had the table all ready for antiquing the collage stamps before Caroline came to clean.

Here's Caroline when she first arrived. She's going to college and works helping people like me.

Caroline vacuuming. She always does that last. I was over at the table using big sponges to blob color all over the collage stamps while she was cleaning.

All the cardstock curling up as it dried. After they were dry I stacked them up and weighted them down with books to flatten them out. Below are a couple of close-up examples. They will be cut down and put on the front of cardstock. I'll try to remember to take a few photos of the process since I've shown this much--hehe!

Before the thunderstorm arrived, when it was 90 degrees out, Karma wanted to be out on the porch while I watered the hanging plants out there. The occasional bug gets in thru the bottom of my makeshift screen where there are a couple of gaps. A wispy, winged creature had made it inside. Karma was alerting me to that fact and imploring me to bat it down for her.

Which I did. She played with it and then ate it. The Circle of Life.

Sorry--No photos of the kill.

I never have really enjoyed watching the lion take down the zebra on the nature shows. Altho, I must confess to being fascinated by the sheer joy and delight Karma expresses in toying with the helpless bugs as long as they can mange to keep moving. With animals there is a kind of innocence of action-- there is absolutely no empathy or compassion whatsoever for the creature they are maiming and killing. Just the way it is.

Is it odd that I find such traits endearing in my cat? Is it unfair to insects that I don't mind her eating the bugs so much, but would feel badly if it was a mouse she was torturing? Am I prejudiced because I raised a lot of pet rodents in my youth and I loved my mice, rats, hamsters, and guinea pigs?

The Circle of Life. ???

Monday-10pm

My usual table. He has two. This is table number two.

Batteries ran out after one shot. :(

Tired tonight. Dagan picked me up and drove me to Dr. John's. (For those who don't know--I no longer have a car and that is why I am needing the rides to the chiropractor, etc.) He forgot the cable cord he needed to make the spare brains, so we were going to their house to pick it up. He called Leah to see what he could pick up at the grocery store for dinner and ended up inviting me to dinner. We got ingredients for beef stir fry and went to their place. Had dinner and watched the second episode of Rome - HBO, I believe. We watched the first episode at painting last week. (I need to take breaks from sitting in the same place for too long--have to remember my digital timer this Wednesday. I keep forgetting it! And my camera!)

Dagan did find the cable cord he needed, but we passed on working on that tonight because it was already after 8:00pm by the time I got home. He's busy tomorrow, we have painting night on Wednesday, and he games on Thursdays--so it will be a while until he can come over and do some more messing with the computers. But, I am up and running, so I am okay with that! :)

I finished The Lonesome Gods last night, so I'll start a new paperback tonight. Maybe another Louis L'Amour? Okay---I just went and looked at my stack of borrowed books from Duane and picked out Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour. That will be my next "before bed" book.

I am dragging tonight--so I am headed there right now...

Sunday- 6pm

Yesterday was a quiet day. Dagan was here to work on my computers. I played with card stuff and watched TV. This is my usual spot by the window to craft or paint. (Where I am again today.)

I will use the waterbrush to blend the WC pencil work after I am done with all of them. I have three different collage stamps to color--and have 7, 8, and 9 of each to color (previously used some individually--I am very anal about these things and had originally stamped the same number of each, of course)--total of 24 to color. So, this is an assembly-line process.

Here's a close-up. I'll be antiqing the paper when I am done with the WC penciling and the blending.

Like my Tweetie Bird lamp? The ladies at Concordia Language Villages office, where I worked part-time when I was going to college there, gave it to me to keep the baby squirrel warm that they had rescued off the sidewalk--eyes weren't even open yet. I was the only one who had any experience or the bottles for feeding small animals (having raised abandoned kittens and the like--I never throw anything away that you just might need in an emergency--and turns out I did--hehe!). I was feeding him round the clock and bringing him to work/school until I found a liscenced wildlife rehabilitation lady in Minneapolis who specialized in squirrels. Yes, I carried him around in a towel inside of an arm sling hung over my chest--fed him on breaks at work and inbetween classes. I think I had the squirrel about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. I didn't realize how famous (or infamous) I had become until I walked into the main office of the college for something about scheduling and all the ladies in the school office exclaimed--"So, you're the one bringing the baby squirrel to school!" The sling hanging on my chest was a dead giveaway--hehe! They all gathered around for a peek!

I always think of the baby red squirrel when I see the yellow lamp. The girls told me to keep the lamp after he was finally safe in Mpls with some other babies about his size. Was he ever glad to cuddle into that ball of red bodies!!

Miss Karma is so hard to get photos of. I saw her sleeping in an empty bag and got down on the floor to take her pciture and woke her up, of course.

Karma does love her trash! Anything new to the apartment at all, for that matter. To her, anything she can sit inside of or on top of is even more interesting, of course. But anything new-- people's shoes, boots, purses, bags, boxes, books, magazines, tools, suitcases--anything different or new or temporary is worth investigating. When your world is small....

Yesterday when Dagan was here he worked from 5:30 until after 8pm on the computers. He got the blog linked to the website and website linked to the blog! And now he has it set up so that I can work on my website from either computer--because when I open it on the laptop it is really the desktop computer that I am working on--so I don't have to transfer information by hand. He amazes me how much he knows about computers and networking! All that is left is the backup/spare-brain stuff. He's driving me to Dr. John's tomorrow, so he'll come up after my appointment to see if he can get that done, too. Wasn't working--he thought because it was remote/wireless and he needs to plug in the laptop directly into the modem, or something to that effect? I don't understand it all, but having a backup copy of all he's done in the past week and a half would be wonderful, to say the least. Then he would have everything right as it is now to start with if he ever (God forbid) has to do this all again.

Was like 94 degrees today and supposed to stay in the low 90s for a couple of days. Nice and cool in here. After six years of suffering from the heat in the older, brick apartment in Moorhead with ACs that couldn't keep up (went thru three in six years!)--this is so heavenly, I can't even tell you how much I appreciate it! And I am only running the AC on low and not even all the way up on low! Amazing! I don't like the hot, humid weather at all, so this is a huge plus for this new apartment. Makes all the downsizing worth it! (I had a two-bedroom in Moorhead, more room and closet space, etc.) I wouldn't want to go back, tho!!

Hope everybody is keeping cool during this national heat wave!?

Saturday-3:30pm

I spent the day yesterday with The Sopranos. All day I watched and worked on coloring in collage stamp images. Also did some reading before I went to bed. Very quiet day. I slept a long time, too, with no alarm yesterday!

The heat woke me up today. 87 degrees and it is supposed to stay in the upper 80s to lower 90s for several days again--with possible (scattered) thunderstorms today. It does look overcast here, but maybe not enough to rain again. Just have had light stuff during the night--barely enough to make any puddles in the parking lot. We need some rain, so I wish it would pour out. I love thunderstorms! Anyways, I had to close it up and turn the AC on. Dagan is coming over to work on the computers again--hopefully the last of the installations. After that, I hope we have time to figure out how I can work on my website again??

I don't know why the spell checker only works sporadically on this blog site for me? I try to go thru and check it before I post, but I have never won a spelling bee and can be forgetful now with the fibro, so please pardon my spelling (and abbreviations like "tho" and "thru" -- I have been using for many years). I found out in college that there were words I have been misspelling all my life! Seeing as I have been writing (journaling and letters) all my life--the errors are deeply ingrained by repetition! I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what I mean, tho. hehe!

Short but sweet this afternoon. I am going back to working on the collage stamp imagines and finding out if Tony discovers who it was who tried to have him whacked!

Thursday-8 pm

Well, Leah and I went tonight to get the results of all the tests we took over that week or so. I knew my thyroid is low (sometimes my body is barely functioning-ha!) I also have a low absorbtion level of food (low HCL production) and a high free radical level (heavy oxidative stress). Low on all kinds of minerals--iodine, zinc, calcium, etc. But cholesterol and a lot of other things were good. I can't afford to buy all the supplements I would need until August. Leah and I decided to figure out how much we would have to buy to last us two months and then see if we feel better or not. And then he does a re-check of this whole process in two months to see if there is improvement and what supplements you can stop taking (a couple of mine are not needed as badly--levels are not quite as high or low, as the case may be). This would take up all my extra money for August. I might not be able to stay on everything he wants me to more than the two months and will have to decide what is needed the most after that--wait and see--but I want to do this and see if I feel better.

I got to bed late and had a call that woke me up early, so I am already dragging tonight. This will be short, but I wanted to wait until I got back from Dr. John's so I could tell what he found out. I'd need two supplements for the HCL Production, two for the Oxidative stress, and three for the Thyroid. Whew! A lot to buy at once. But Leah and I can order together and they will be mailed to my place and we will only pay one flat shipping and handling fee for the both of us.

Well, that's it--quick tonight--and I guess good news. Might even be able to make more positive changes in August? And I am grateful I even have any extra money at all to buy anything! (Happy me!) So that's lucky for me to have this opportunity to have these series of tests done for less than the usual cost (we're his guinea pigs--his first test clients). Now I am really glad I bought the other colors of acrylic paint and the tiny cheap cage for Miss Gracie! :)

Everything works out in the end. Not always the way we might have thought it would, but it always works out. :)

PS - For some reason I thought Dr. John's baby girl's name was Sophie, but it is Caydee ( I think I have spelled that right--it is pronounced like Sadie). I like unique names! Now I will remember because I'll think of the Sadie Hawkins Dance we had senior year--where the girls asked the boys to the dance. That was my first official date-date with Alan, my first love. hehe! We won the costume award. (I had borrowed mine from Cheryl who lived a couple blocks away--a burlap dress and straw hat.) Sadie=sixteen and starry-eyed=Caydee.

Wednesday- 2 pm

Thought I'd throw in some visuals for the Karma not eating Gracie story.

I was trying to look up and over this hole in the wall between the kitchen and the dining room to see what Karma was crying about that day.

Karma sat down right where the little blue stool is today--next to Gracie's bird-mansion. (She thinks she is a much larger bird than she really is.) Gracie was struting about right under Karma's nose and Karma was sniffing towards her, but seemed afraid to get close enough to her for even a good smell.

The bag you see to the left of the stool is yet another temporary Karma toy. One man's trash...

This is my bookcase for popular, spiritual, religious, self-help, literary magazines, bookcrossing.com, and energy work books. Kind of the catch all bookcase.

I removed the bag to the kitchen garbage can. Karma didn't seem happy about that--ha!

The stool is by the cage for their little game. When Gracie is shut inside she comes right over to that side to entice Karma to come and visit her. Karma gets up on the stool and gently paws toward Gracie, who always backs up out of Karma's way, and then Gracie comes forward again to tempt Karma to try to touch her once again. They play this little teasing game. Karma usually tires of it long before Gracie does. And now I know, obviously, that Karma wouldn't immediately hurt Gracie if she actually had the chance. At least not while I was up and around...ha! Left alone long enough, I think nature would certainly prevail.

Dagan came over lunch today again and is about finished. Just a little more. Then I can have him try to help me figure out how to work on my website again after he is done with the remaking of the computers' brains. I have changed the host I use and the program I am going to be working with, so I am totally lost. Dagan has never used Front Page, either--so he will have to learn about it himself in order to teach me.

Tonight we meet at Dagan and Leah's for our painting session--finally. Jennifer has decided not to join us after all. The first time the three of us met was three weeks ago, already. I now have some additional colors, retardant to slow down the drying time, and the gesso that I need to scumble my sky, too! So, should be fun!

Tuesday-4:00 pm

Last Thursday, after Dr. John's, Leah and I went to PetSmart. I wanted to get some better seed for Miss Gracie and some taller plants for the aquarium. Saw a tiny, cheap cage for Gracie for the porch. Sure, it's like spending time in a closet for her compared to the mansion she lives in--hehe! And--I have to manhandle her to get her out of there and actually catch her because she is not smart enough to duck when I try to take her out on my finger...but she is getting used to it. She is amazed with the wind and just the fact she is in a new spot.

I had to get on my folding stool to take a picture of her. Well, I always have to get on the folding step stool just to get her in and out of there (only 5'2").

As you can see, the cage is set high up in the ceiling. Gracie can feel safe and look outside and still see Karma and I when we are on the porch. Leah drilled the hole and put the hook up for me. We have it close to the building so her cage leans on the wall and won't flip around in the wind. It is a tad windy in Fargo. (Very windy today!)

Anyways, it's been a while since I've written! Dagan has been working every day on my computers since Saturday. It takes a lot to completely re-do two of them. He's not done yet. Has been coming over on his lunch breaks this week and was here till 8 pm or so on Monday after he brought me to Dr. John's. I have left them both alone after he leaves so they can finish doing whatever they were doing. He's closer to done now and I can get online again. Ta Da!

Since I last wrote--despite the fact I have been feeling in more pain, my spine is actually better--hehe! My re-check at Dr. John's showed that my spine is getting more balanced and so I graduated to two times a week! Nice! I will be going on Mondays and Thursdays now. Bones being more aligned doesn't neccessarily mean I am in less pain from my overdoing it. Fibro is in the muscles--connective tissue. Thursday Leah and I will find out the results from all the testing we did, also.

Meanwhile, I have also watched the rest of Season One of Deadwood and love that show! I still have the specials disc from season one coming. At first it was a bit of a shock watching HBO--the swearing, nudity, sex--but it is very much a part of the story of Deadwood. The acting is superb! There are so many layers and storylines going on--you find yourself invested in the characters from the first episode. The atmosphere and the variety in language and costumes--I am enthralled! Makes you wonder where you would have ended up if you had lived back then? Looking forward to watching Season Two. But first I have ordered the rest of Season One of The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

A couple of nights ago I was cooking in the kitchen. The apartment was closed up with the three fans going to move the cooler air into the bedroom (close to 100 degrees) and I also had the fan on over the stove. I kept hearing Karma crying about something. I thought she wanted to go out on the porch, but I couldn't see her by the porch door when I looked over there. I kept talking to her and telling her I'd be there in a minute while I got things set up to cook for a while with the stir fry I was making. When I was done, I came around into the living room and Karma was backing away from something and she sat down in front of the bookcase next to the cage when she saw me, very tall, looking fascinated but totally stressed. I come around and see Gracie following Karma around on the floor!!

That Miss Gracie is not the brightest bulb on the tree, to say the least. I definitely got the impression that Gracie had been trotting about following Karma and that was what Karma had been trying to tell me. She was begging me to come and get Gracie away from her--take away the feathered temptation! She might have even been trying to lead her back over to her cage?? I was sooooo proud of Karma for not killing silly Miss Gracie who knows no better, is so fascinated by Karma, and obviously was not in line when they handed out survival skills. But for a moment, when I came around the corner and realized I had not heard Gracie take off from her cage with all the fans going and my weak ears, I was struck by fear. Karma got some praise and loving up, I tell you! She truly does realize that Gracie is a member of the family, too.

I have always trusted my angels/guides (GA and Troops) to help me pick out cats who can live with my birds and other pets. I had to search for Karma. I am filled with gratitude for all their love and assistance.

Well, I should be back to blogging and answering email regularly again now! I believe Dagan is just down to the installations of programs and hopefully we won't have any more glitches. :)

Wednesday-midnight

Frustrating! I have been unable to get online all evening until now. So, since Dagan won't be over until Saturday to work on my poor computers, I will write something now and might not be back online for a while. Who knows? I have been having trouble getting online--keeps saying something about network cable unplugged? But then sometimes I can get online despite the fact it still says that? Computers! I hope Dagan can work on both of mine. He had mentioned that this laptop needed to be reprogrammed also. Yup--guess so! I am getting cut off from the outside world!

And my phone has been acting up--battery dying too fast--and now the ringer doesn't always work. I think I need a new phone, too. Always something,eh? They sure don't make things to last like they used to--the phone is only like four years old at the most. Sad!

Well, other than that things are going well. My AC is working great! It has been so hot and humid out for days and I am nice and comfortable in here. Karma wants to go out and sprawl about taking naps on the porch during the day. She loves the heat. Comes in feeling like a furry heating pad!

Had my recheck today with Dr. John's electrical thingies he rolls down your spine. He'll let me know how it looked tomorrow. Also did the last three tests today. I fasted for the blood test and then had the lemon test and the zinc test. Leah is doing her final tests on Friday morning. We'll go in next week and find out the results of all the testing. I think I have a very sluggish thyroid. When I wake up my temp takes a long time to go back up to normal! I guess it is supposed to go up right away when we wake up and move around. I'll know more next week.

I'm glad that, as long as I haven't been feeling up to par since I got home this last weekend, I had some interesting Netflix DVDs to watch. I have always wondered about some of the HBO programs and ordered the first disc of Six Feet Under, Deadwood, and The Sopranos. I have watched Six Feet Under and Deadwood--liked them both. Now I have ordered the rest of Season One of both of them. Tomorrow I will watch the beginning of The Sopranos. Kind of nice to be able to see Cable TV shows that I can't afford to pay the extra for--hehe!

I have been sleeping better the past couple nights. So I am feeling more human. Just need a few more nights of catching up and I might have some more energy again. Hard to explain fibro to people sometimes. Doesn't take much to knock us off our feet, I guess.

The only thing I have been working on the past couple of days--when I have to move around to another chair to get comfortable anyways--has been coloring in some rubber stamp pictures that I had stamped up a long time ago. Been using pastel pencils. Just keep working at them little by little. When I get them all colored, then I can put them on the fronts of cards. I have been in the mood to tie up loose ends, so to speak. Used up all my old stash of cards. So am looking thru old stuff I haven't gotten to. Want to check in the box of recycling stuff, too--rework some old cards into new ones--use some odds and ends I've saved for making cards. Use up the handmade paper I have made up, too--and use up some scrap paper from the scrap box. :)

Well, I guess that's it for tonight. And not sure when I'll be back, since I've had a harder and harder time getting online recently. Return when I can! :)

Tuesday-7:30pm

Finally back! After having company for a couple of days, no chiro last week, and then the trip to Minneapolis and not sleeping on Friday night---I kind of fell apart by morning, I guess. Got really sick to my stomach and dizzy at Renee's and wasn't able to make it to the service on Saturday. In fact, we drove back Sat night after Dagan, Leah, and Renne came back from the funeral and luncheon. I have just been on a zombie-recoup since then. Made Dr. John's yesterday (they have a new baby girl named Sophie) and was finally able to sleep better last night. Had been so sore that I was up and down all night long Saturday and Sunday and never felt rested--the fibro vicious circle. I really thought I could do it--my optimism seems to know no bounds. I couldn't. Last week was just too much for me all at once. I feel badly that I didn't make it there and didn't get to see all the cousins and their kids. I tried.

Anyways, I am slowly feeling more human and will be back to my normal soon. More next time... :)

Friday-noon

I figured out how to get the photos onto the laptop! I got a few pictures from my folks' visit. Here's my dad, Kelly.

And my mom, Jane.

Leah worked on card stuff all afternoon. Got a lot of really pretty things made up!

I threw a treat down for Karma after I brushed her and it went under the television cabinet. I got down on the floor to find it--a process for me--and discovered all these "toys" under there!!! She loved little crumpled pieces of paper to bat around when she was a kitten. So this is where a lot of them went! I laughed and laughed as I dug them out!! Over a year's worth of lost toys! Wonder what is under the frig and the bedroom dressers??!!

Well, busy day today. Washing sheets and towels for Jennifer, watering plants, making stri-fry, gathering all the trash to go out, packing, washing dishes, setting the VCR...getting ready to leave for the weekend.

Feeling sad. We are going down for my uncle's funeral. My heart is with my aunt, Mary Lou. It is always difficult to officially say goodbye. He was cremated and this will be a graveside service for immediate family. He died this past winter and didn't want a regular funeral. The gathering to honor his life is actually on his birthday--Saturday--in their hometown. So appropriate! All the kids and grandkids live out of state and will all be able to be here this weekend, I believe. I hope it doesn't rain!

Dagan, Leah, and I are staying with my sister, Renee, and driving back on Sunday. Will be nice to see my cousins and their kids. I probably will hardly recognize their children--so grown up by now! And Renee and I will have some "sister time" again (gabbing half the night on Sat night). She even took Monday off--to recuperate! hehe! We have been reconnecting recently and it is a very nice thing to have a sister you can talk to! :):)

Well, the day is flying by. I have to cart out my trash and get the mail. I am supposed to have the Dick Blick order coming today via FedEx. I hope they come before we leave. Dagan is coming to pick me up about 3pm. I'll be back after the trip as soon as I am up to sitting at the computer-hehe!

Thursday-2:45pm

My folks were here Monday and Tuesday for a visit. I wasn't really functional at all yesterday. I did make lists of what to pack and what to do before I leave, but that is about it. I watched TV and movies yesterday and recovered from the past few days.

We had no chiropractor appointment yesterday because his wife finally went into labor! And just got a call today that the little girl arrived this morning and he wouldn't be in Thursday or Friday. She had a home birth with a midwife, so I fully expected he wouldn't be in the rest of the week. She'll need some help for a few days--and this is their first! Exhilerating and exhausting and miraculous as babies always are--they should take a few days to bond. So happy for them!

But, since I didn't have my three adjustments this week (none!) and had visitors for two days and will now be gone for the weekend to Mpls--I will be in desperate need of an adjustment by Monday, that's for sure. I am more sore right now than I have been for weeks--so his adjustments do help alleviate the pain level. I am due for an evaluation next week to see if I can go down to two days a week, too. But, I'll have three next week. I think I'll need them to get back on track.

Anyways, meanwhile--Dagan was working on my desktop again and it is really in bad shape and freezing up. I am not allowed to turn it on until he can get back and work on it some more. He was having trouble getting all the stuff I want to save off the brains right now--and then he has to wipe out the brains and start over again. ??? So, no pictures for a while--all the photos are on that computer. I guess I need to learn how to save information more often.

Anyways, I won't be home all weekend, so I will not be posting over the trip. Probably just today and maybe tomorrow, while I pack. IF the laptop keeps functioning?? It took me a few minutes to even get online this afternoon (this laptop is acting very slow, too?) and yesterday something was wrong with the Cable One connection most of the day and I couldn't get online at all. The light was even out that says "online" on the little monitor that sends information to the laptop. So, I have had troubles with Internet connection recently. Hopefully it will be sorted out in a week or so?

That's it for now. I am heading out to get mail and get the suitcase out of the garage. :)