Friday-4:30am

I gave up trying to sleep about an hour ago. Just that feeling like you've been hit by a truck, sore all over, waking up every 30-60 minutes and having to get up and walk around and stretch nights. I was trying to think of what I might have done to irritate my body so badly the last couple days and the only thing "different" that I have done was to shake and shake the gold and gilded inks! Good Grief! That is just ridiculous! But--sadly--most likely the culprit. Pathetic, eh? Sometimes I am still absolutely amazed at the complaints of my whiny body.

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I was already sooo tired yesterday. Oh well. I waited and waited for them to come for that inspection. They never came. ?? Not sure if they will be coming now today, then, or not? I was barely functional yesterday--so, today? I. Don't. Care. If they do arrive while I still have my nightgown on (which might be half the day or maybe all of it) I will just throw my robe on. Feel too crummy to care--at last right now. Sometimes I feel better later on in the day. Sometimes I don't--or feel worse. Time will tell, right? ;)

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Anyways, sorry. Don't like to be a whiner.

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Yesterday we had some sunshine and wind. While Karma was chowing down on her grass...(moo...moo?)...

...above her head on the TV tray I set the WC abstract out to dry.

With the sun and wind..it DID dry!! And I like the way it gets that textured look from the saran wrap. Turned out okay. :)

Just really difficult for me to try to get a picture that shows the shimmer of the gold ink in the light, but I tried.

Now I'll cut this sheet down into bookmark sizes, have them laminated, and then see which ones we like well enough to sell. You really have to wait till they are laminated to choose. Some employees aren't as talented with the laminator as others when you go to Office Max or one of those office supply stores. We have had things ruined in the past. But sometimes they all pass thru the laminator with flying colors--pardon the pun. ;)

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I have an idea for black stripes and bright colored stripes--similar to the bright colored one of mine I showed you with the colors kind of going lengthwise on the bookmarks. Might even see how some Chinese black ink would work? And I'd like to see if I can do pastels without them looking too translucent? Maybe have to add some white to them? And I'd like to try some using my acrylic metallic paints, too! Lots of ideas always rolling around in the brain of this painful body, eh? ROFL! Well--it's the only part of me that really works that well anymore--hehehe!!!

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I should look for a quote on patience for today...

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Ha! This was labeled as a "patience" quote. :)

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"Learn to pause...or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you."

Doug King

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Worthwhile stuff, here I am! Come and get me!! Be here all day. Pausing. Tarry...tarry...tarry. ROFL!!

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We have a thunderstorm rolling thru at the moment so I'm going to shut down the computer. Have a wonderful day! There really are so many things to appreciate every single day--even on the bad days. Keep smiling!! :):)

Thursday-6:30am

This is what I did with the zucchini, yellow squash, and three colors of peppers--quickly fried them up just a bit and put them into small containers. Had some on rice last night with a little Tamari sauce--yummy! I have to think of ways to have fresh foods for the entire month when I only order once. I froze up the rest of the chopped orange, yellow, and red peppers--so they are ready to use in a stir fry or whatever. Should have thought of this earlier--lost the rest of my mushrooms. But--better late than never, as they say, right? They should be good frozen, too. Handy to prepare ahead of time when I am not up to all that prep work. ;)

Okay--these are my two old watercolor bookmarks. They're about 6-7 years old and have been used almost constantly.

This one has gold ink and I used the plastic wrap technique on it. That's where all the creases and marks came from. The corners can get bent, as you can see, but when they're laminated they last for years and years. May cut them a little closer to the bookmark next time.

This one was just plain bright colors of paint blobbed about on the paper.

So--I decided to at least set up the watercolor block using the plastic wrap yesterday. As soon as I left my chair Karma was up there like a big old jumping bean.

These are so much fun to do! You feel like a kid in grade school art class--hehe! Kind of drop color on the wet paper wherever you feel like it. Then dropped in gold ink randomly all over, too.

Then crumpled up plastic wrap (I always want to say saran wrap--showing my age) is pressed all over the watercolor paper and left to dry.

It can take a day or two to dry and you must have patience--no peeking. So, you don't know what you have until the big reveal. :) We made all the previous bookmarks on precut paper-individually. So this is exciting to see how this will work with cutting up the paper afterwards. The precut bookmarks were dry in about a day, but they were small. This might take even longer than two days--who knows? I remember the plastic wrap starts to come away from the paper, tho. So, I just have to wait.

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Oh--and I used the very first tiny Altoid palette I ever made--with a variety of leftover tubes that I had on hand. :) The rest of them are one brand per tiny palette.

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I found out it wasn't who I was afraid it was that was dead in the car on True Blood--hehe! Good! I think I do agree that this show is a guilty pleasure--blood, gore, sick humor, sex, and supernatural creatures--chuckle! It is just plain so bizarre that it draws you in and you can't help but wonder what will happen. ;)

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I was reading my Writer's Digest Magazine yesterday (July/August) and they had an interview with the author behind True Blood, Charlain Harris. Interesting woman! I love her attitude about having fun with her writing or she wouldn't do it. She had been writing mysteries and got tired of the format. Had a hard time convincing anyone to go with the dating a vampire book--hehe! But it took off and she's still writing the series--first person by Sookie. Harris has let go of her creation, tho--and let HBO go with their own changes and additions. Says she loves to be surprised when she watches the show. What a great attitude!!

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Harris was born the same year as I was--1951--in Mississippi. It said she has a cameo appearance in the season two finale! I'll be looking for her--roundish, with short curly dark hair, a big smile, and twinkly eyes from what I could tell by her headshot. :)

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Anyways, I only got a nap yesterday for an hour and a half. Caroline called and asked if she could come over earlier since she was getting off work early--sure! So, I ended up in bed at 9:30pm and sleeping till a little after 5am!! TADA!!

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Wish me luck at keeping this up for a while. I hope. I hope. Sooo nice to be up during the day!! :):) But after going so long with just a nap--I feel like I could use another one right now. But--no!no!no! Then I'd probably conk out and be up all night again. I wish I would have slept a little longer, but I was too sore to stay in bed. Luckily, I guess, I have the annual apartment inspection this morning by the company that owns the building. We'll see if I can stay awake all day long till some time this evening--hehe! ;)

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Well, have a happy Thursday!!

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The quote today comes from Eeyore (Winnie The Pooh)

"Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them."

Wednesday-5:45am

Miss Karma was reaching for something under the dresser...and dozed off--ROFL!

She always hears the camera and me moving around, tho.

She dozed off again after I took the pictures--hehe!

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I did think of something quiet to do. Got all set up to work on some watercolor bookmarks. Decided to try my watercolor block that I never use.

Several years ago Leah, Ariel, Aaron, and I made some as a craft project. We laminated them and sold them at craft tables. I only saved two of mine and they are my favorites.

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Anyways, it took forever for me to incorporate the gold particles that had sunk to the bottom of these jars.

I was shaking and shaking. Finally took out some popsicle sticks and stirred--and thinned out the Winsor Newton gold with water. They were a project onto themselves. :)

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Decided that this is the perfect way to finally play with all the tiny palettes that I had been putting together for a couple of years with all the different brands of watercolor paints--tada! Anyways, I am now all set up to play...when I work up to it--hehe!

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I spent a lot of last two nights watching the end of season four of Supernatural--wow! Now I have to wait for season five to come out on DVD to find out if the devil has been set loose from hell!! ;) ****

And I have the first DVD of season two of True Blood to watch. Happened to return a DVD when the second season first came out. I imagine I'll be on the waiting list for a while before I get the rest of them. Got to find out who was dead in that car...;)

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Caroline comes tonight, so I will have to set the alarm so I will be up--hehe! These crazy hours! *shakes head* We have the annual apartment inspection on Thursday. Just found the notice taped to my door when I went to check the mail in the middle of the night. So--good thing Caroline comes tonight. It will be all nice and clean for the inspection. :) Not that it ever looks too much different around here--hehe!

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Well, it's about lunchtime for me--ROFL! Have a good day!! :):)

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"It all depends on how we look at things, and not how things are in themselves. The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it."

Carl Jung

Tuesday-3:45am

Karma is a born sun-worshipper.

Well, let's see...what have I been up to? Not much really. Yesterday I washed clothes, towels, sheets...everything that wasn't nailed down--hehe! I've been spending a lot of time on the computer the past couple days. Feels good to be more caught up, but then I don't get much else done. Kind of works out perfectly for me, actually--with my energy being one endless roller coaster ride. When I have more energy I am doing other things and then when my energy slumps I can spend more time at the computer catching up on emails, blogs, and such. It all works out. Slowly, but it works out. :):)

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I asked Leah if she wanted to pass on tonight at my place and stay home and work on taking photos of cards for the etsy shop. Last week must have gotten away from her. Happens all the time to me--hehe! She thought that was a great idea. My hours are inverted right now, anyways. (But I am sleeping really well most days, so that's a plus.)

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I have felt kind of off track for a while. Nothing new. Happens regularly. My track hasn't been straight or without a variety of roadblocks since fibro decided to travel with me--ROFL! Anyways, I was thinking about how I need to get back to the kitchen. Got the jars all cleaned up top--and then I ran out of gas--ha! Time to get back on track. Soon. I really don't like to be banging around and running water in the middle of the night in an apartment building. You feel like doing something quieter, you know? I am a good neighbor...or try to be. So--as soon as I am back on days.... :)

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Meanwhile--I just started watching the last two DVDs of season four of Supernatural. I'll be caught up. Have to wait for the following seasons to come out on DVD. And I am sitting here trying to think of something different and quiet to do...? :):)

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"The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle."

Margaret Storm Jameson

Monday-5am

Tarry...

...tarry...

...tarry...

...tarry. ;)

I think Miss Karma has tarrying down to a science--ROFL!!

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In the world to come I shall not be asked, "Why were you not Moses?" I shall be asked, "Why were you not Zusya?"

Rabbi Zusya

Sunday-5am

Lots of pictures this morning!

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After a really good, long sleep yesterday I woke up about 6pm. Got ready and went over to check on Sammy and Annie.

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Note to Iggy: I was looking for the SCOKY head cones and none of them were at their posts? (Breaking news to follow.)

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I cleaned Sammy and Annie's cat box. The new litter is much better. Not sure if I'd want to try it or not, tho. Maybe have to try it at least once and see for myself if it smells more or not.

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Fed the two hungry critters...

...and then sat in the living room for a while to visit.

Annie isn't so shy with me anymore...

...and comes right up for a pet and scratch. She is so sleek and shiny!

She stopped to sniff my hand. Maybe she could smell Karma?

This picture of Sammy makes him look totally insane! He was just tipping his head back--the better for me to scratch his neck--but those bulging orange eyes!!

See--here he looks his normal handsome self.

On the way home I pulled over so that I could gather the evidence, Iggy. I found out what all the thin, knobby headed cones do on the weekends! They gather to party!

Here's a close up. See how so many of them are quite tipsy--and one is already falling over?

Now we know what they do when they are off duty on the weekends--wild parties!! ROFL!

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Miss Karma gave me the hand sniffing when I got home from petting alien cats.

Okay--last night I decided to work on the StampTV challenges.

Karma kept me company--but not too close as I was up and down a lot--hehe!

I did make four of them.

But, for the life of me, I can't seem to get everything correct. *sigh* This one was the color challenge and I was supposed to use brown, cream, green, and purple. Not pink. I didn't even realize it until I had posted it. Oh well.

I am a little color blind so shades of reds and greens look different to me than to other people sometimes. It looked more pink to me than purple--but I should have read more closely. I will take more notes next time--hehe! I did write a note to the lady running this challenge in the forum and told her I realized after I had posted it and why I messed up. I'll just get disqualified, but that's no big deal. I am just happy to have actually done some of the challenges AND figured out how to post them! ;)

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This one was the inspiration challenge. Had a picture of a floral walkway with lots of greens and yellows and some pinks (or reds?). You use the photo as inspiration for making a card.

This one was the sketch challenge. They give you the basic shapes to work with. This one had the horizontals and then the overlapping shapes on the front. After I got done I realized it would have looked more pulled together if I had used the same dark rose color on the bottom so that it would have made a thin dark frame around the whole front. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

And finally--the blast from the past challenge. They give you a technique that hasn't been highlighted for a while on the website.

The technique this week uses clear embossing (the "hello") on a patterned paper--and then you rub with distress ink or something similar to make the embossed rubber stamp pop out on the patterned paper.

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Anyways, I have the four of them entered in the challenges. Delighted that I figured out how to upload them. (I hope I did it right?) It is fun to try new things. I love all the how-to videos on the site. Awesome! If I had some of their stamps I would get entered twice for each card instead of once. Maybe eventually I can win some, eh? ;)

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Supposed to get up to the mid-80's today and not rain. There sure were a lot of tornadoes up here. Lots of stories on the news--and so many people have digital cameras these days, so videos of several tornadoes, too. The story I can't forget is the father who saved his daughter's life. I hope this link works.

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http://www.startribune.com/local/96727784.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UHDaaDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUHDYaGEP7eyckcUX

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The quote for the day is from Winnie-the-Poo:

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

Saturday-4:30am

Spying on Miss Karma as she was munching on her grass. :)

Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! ;)

Talk about windy up here. Look what I found lying on the porch a little while ago! It must have been plastered up against my handmade screen and slid down in between the gaps at the bottom.

It's a paid invoice for lawn work.

But I'm not even sure where this is--has to be blocks away from here. How very strange!

I'm on third floor. Nobody could have slipped this onto my porch by hand. What are the odds?! Very, very weird. And very, very windy.

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Anyways, I guess my glasses and glaucoma testing went thru Medicare and I owe about $160.00 because of a deductible? So, now I am paying them something every month, too. No point in snooping around at the craft stores after all. Lost my little bit of leeway this month. Oh well. Still have enough to pay the cash if I need to see the dentist, so I'm okay. I'll have to put Pearle Vision in my budget for July. :)

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Good weekend to putter about, read, and maybe work on the StampTV challenges. I still have never tried again. Why would I bother? They randomly choose winners and the winners can get a free clear stamp set of their choice. ;) They run the challenges every week. So one of these weeks I will make a card or two and figure out how to enter online. What the heck, right? :)

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Meanwhile--sounds like I might be sleeping thru a really nice day. 78 for a high and mostly sunny. The birds are already singing and the sun hasn't even hinted at rising yet--hehe! They must know it's going to be a great day. :):)

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"Only when we tarry do we touch the holy."

Rainer Maria Rilke

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I plan to do me some tarrying this weekend. :)

Friday-5am

Good Morning!

I decided to blog this morning before I go to sleep since my days and nights are flipped again. I got up so late yesterday that I never got around to blogging. Just throws my normal schedule off. Not that my life has much of a schedule--or is very normal at all, for that matter--ROFL!

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I grabbed the camera a few times when I got up last night just to show you why Karma doesn't always get her beauty sleep--ROFL!

She always has to keep an eye on me...

...just to keep track of what I am up to, I guess.

Even if she's so tired she can hardly keep her eyes open...

...any time I get up, she wakes up.

Karma sleeps with one ear open, I guess--hehe!

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Thunderstorms passed thru here all night Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I just heard on the news that there were 54 tornadoes in North Dakota and Minnesota yesterday!! Whew! None in town here, but I wonder what the damages were?

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I slept the day away yesterday and got up at almost 6pm. By the time I woke up the sky had cleared and the sun was out. Muggy still. I did make it over last night to get gas before my one coupon expired (can use up to three of them) and saved almost $5.00!! Whoohoo! And then I stopped over at JoAnn's to look for flower dies to cut our own paper flowers. Nothing interesting there. Maybe will try to hit the other three craft places over the next few days? We have JoAnn's, Michael's, and Hobby Lobby in Fargo and then our local K&Krafts over in Moorhead.

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Been catching up online! Watched the end of season one of True Blood. The second season is coming out on DVD on the 22nd, so I'll get it whenever I'm next in line. Have it at the top of my list. It's kind of grown on me, I guess. Some great characters...if they don't keep killing them off!! Looks like they may have just killed off another one I really enjoyed? :(

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On the instant netflix I watched I Remember Me:

Kim Snyder was a filmmaker looking forward to her next project when, one day, she was overcome by what she thought was the flu -- but later found out her disease was much more debilitating. In this touching documentary, Snyder chronicles her struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness that's still a mystery to many doctors. Includes interviews with other famous sufferers, including director Blake Edwards and athlete Michelle Akers.

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This documentary came out in 2000. Fibromyalgia was often diagnosed as CFS. Still can be. Seems to me fibro is just chronic fatigue plus guaranteed chronic pain. I could really relate to what this woman went thru--is going thru--and the many people she talked to. She researched and discovered clusters of people who came down with this weird fatigue disease after having flu-like symptoms back to 1934 in Los Angeles. The center for disease control ignored it over the years. More women get it than men--so they said it was in their hysterical heads, of course. ;) Hey--some of my own family and friends thought it was in my head and didn't believe me. That was devastating!

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I know I have heard there's a current theory that fibro might be caused by a virus, but they haven't proved anything yet. All I knew was I came down with a bad case of mono, had to quit my double jobs, moved up to Fargo/Moorhead to go to college in 1999...and I never recovered. I was never the same.

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I had always thought it was the mono that started it somehow. But I caught everything that went around the college because my immune system was compromised--all the five years I was there I was sick. That first year I caught something every single month, I think. Had the flu 2-3 times, respiratory illnesses, bronchitis, walking pneumonia, etc. After seeing this documentary, it makes me wonder if I didn't catch it then--one of those times I had the flu? If they do find out it is a virus--that's where and when I got it.

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I could really relate to mourning the person you used to be. You are a completely different person. Physically altered. And not for the better! She said that there are some people who do basically recover--between 4-12%. And it sounded to me like about the same percentage of suicides. There are a range of degrees that a person can be effected. This one poor young man of 16 was reduced to being totally bedridden and couldn't even dress or feed himself. I feel very fortunate.

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Anyways, it was very interesting to me, naturally. If anyone wanted to have a better idea of what the chronically ill with CFS (or fibro) live with...you could check this documentary out. Maybe one day they will find a cure. :)

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" We are all made of starstuff."

Carl Sagan