Saturday-12:45pm

We've had beautiful, sunny days in the 60s and 70s...patio door wide open days. 

But then we also had a couple 80s and a 90 degree day!  Ridiculous to have summer days in the beginning of May and be running the AC.  Today it's cooler--67 right now--ahhh!  Fresh air!! 

****

I've had people ask how I set up my Bullet Journal, being housebound and all.  (Feel free to scroll down if you aren't interested.)  I print off copies of that chart on the left page and then cut them down to double-sided-tape them into the journal.  Saves me re-drawing that chart every month.  Things I do daily or often (or wish I did more often--LOL!) can go on that daily chart for the month to check off.  Then on the right hand side I have the monthly goals, a calendar, and lists of people to send letters and cards.  

Then my actual ongoing bullet pages are compressed.  Since I can't get a lot done or count on which day I can do them, I split the month onto four pages.  Each page is approximately a week.  At the beginning and end there are either more or less days, but I like even numbered pages so my first two pages can be on the same spread.  And, yes, I do color code my entries.

This month I even got out some very old rub ons to throw on the pages for encouragement.

This is what a month looks like in a more skeletal state.  I worked ahead a couple months this time since I was feeling better.  ;)

I use a ruler and draw the dividing lines and squares.

This is that first sheet I tape in. 

I bought a stamp set I am crazy about that I can use to stamp the month every month--endlessly!  I circle birthdays in red and anniversaries in blue.  Beneath the calendar I make a list of people I owe letters to--and keep adding to that as the month goes on.

Then I write up the over-all goals for the month to the left of the calendar...

...and on the bottom of the letter list column I divide off a box for my list of birthday cards.  (Since I had my old rub-ons out I stuck a big love next to that box since it's Ian's birthday in June.)

Then on my next four pages I keep a weekly To-Do list going...

...and I divide off the bottom of the page for weekly appointments.

That is how my Bullet Journal works for somebody who is housebound and, shall we say, not very active--LOL!
****
  I have just stated to do more hand drawn decorations rather than using washi tape (which is what I had been using up until the last couple months--so easy).  The washi tape is making the journal get fatter and fatter--LOL!  And since I don't use many pages per month it is going to take me a good long time to fill up this journal.  :)
****
Oh, and I do keep various lists wherever and they are listed in the index.  I even (red) tagged this new one with my/our art & craft goals for the year.  (Man!  Behind, eh?) 

The segments are: Bookbinding, Bookcards, Calligraphy, Cards, Handmade Paper, Sewing-Leah, Sewing-Me, and Watercolors.  This is actually my goal (or wishful thinking) list I make up each year instead of resolutions.  Just a list of what I would like to do that year if I am lucky.  I think the best I have ever done was about half--LOL!  But I like it down in writing so that I can easily remind myself all year and add on if I want to.  What I don't get to is transferred from year to year.  Works for me.  :)
****
The last couple days I have been working on letters.  
And what does Miss Karma do all afternoon?  

That's one of her new catnip balls.  A gift from McFamily.  There are teeth marks all over it--LOL!  Karma does enjoy her catnip.

Speaking of gifts from McFamily!!

Two dozen red roses!
Bouqs.com has some great deals.
Aren't they lovely!!
Thanks, guys!  :) :)
****
Oh, I saw the two grouse again and tried to get a picture.  Sorry about the glare off the window. 

They got scared by a walker (sounds like the Walking Dead, doesn't it?) and ran right toward me. 

First time I've seen the black across their bellies so well!
****
Miss Karma is going to miss the flower box.

But I am bringing out the trash this afternoon.

Karma likes to chew up fresh flowers.  She actually loves dried baby's breath...SO much that Leah made sure never to send anything with that in the bouquet because she'd sit under the flowers and howl and cry--and drive me nuts.
****
Due to Karma's love of flowers the roses are up on top of the bookcases.  

I can take them down during the day (when I can keep an eye on Miss Karma) but have to put them up at night. 

Last night I caught this scene of the tree shadow and a jackrabbit munching grass.  I am easily enthralled.

So is Karma.

****
OMGosh!  
News Flash!!
****
As I was typing away here a heard a tapping on my door.  Two ladies were holding a box of flowers from Bouqs.com and asking me if I was Rita?  They thought the box had been there since yesterday...but I explained that I had gotten a box yesterday!?  This one had my name on it, too??  That was sweet of them because I had already gotten mail today and it wasn't there.  (So the person who delivered the flowers never buzzed me either day.)
****
Anyways, I opened it enough to see it was another box of two dozen red roses!!  So I called Leah to find out if these were a mistake and supposed to go to another grandma or what was going on.  No, these were mine.  Leah said she had a coupon for more roses for the same price--but she didn't think it was for four dozen--thought it was for two dozen.  So she is going to check and make sure that either it was a deal for four dozen or make sure that they didn't charge her twice.  I told her she could have a couple dozen for Mother's Day--but she passed (doesn't like to get flowers).  I tried--LOL!  
****
So, being as these are my only two larger vases, they are really jam packed now!  I know they aren't arranged quite symmetrically, but it was difficult just getting that many stems into the vases--anyplace at all--LOL!  Yesterday's are in the vase to the right and today's the left.  :)

This box came with some of the little purple flowers (can't remember what they are called), so I let Karma have one as a little present.  She loves it!  I played and played with her...she grabs it and gets all upset if I try to take it away...so, of course, that's what I do--LOL!  When I went to take a picture of her with "her precious" she thought that because I was next to the chair that I was going to try to steal it--so she would not take her eyes off of it--LOL!

So--roses two days in a row!  
Accident or not, wow!
****
"My precious!"
(If cats could talk...and watched movies.)

Just snuck a picture of Karma sleeping on top of her treasure.
****
Happy Mother's Day for all who will be celebrating tomorrow or thinking of someone they miss.  And a very special great big Happy Mother's Day to you, Leah!!  
****
 “There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” 
Jill Churchill

Saturday-8:30am

Good Morning!

Was like Wild Kingdom here in Fargo!

****

Suddenly there was a life and death chase going on outside my window.  A little bird (sparrow?) was darting back and forth underneath my patio chairs--in and out low to the ground--followed by a big bird (hawk?) desperately trying to capture it.  The hawk even banged into the window, too.  I got up to stand in the window so that the hawk got scared and backed off--but it wouldn't fly away.  The little sparrow was totally exhausted and flat on the ground.  I wasn't sure if it had been injured by the hawk or banging into the window.  Four times I scared the hawk off a ways, but it wouldn't give up.  I was hoping to give the sparrow a chance to catch its breath and that maybe the hawk would give up... 

...but it was determined. 

I started a video and it's shaky--sorry.  I am no wildlife photographer.  In fact, I don't know how they do it!  When the hawk flew over the one time I ducked--ROFL!  But here's the rest of the story.

Circle of life, eh?

****

And where was Miss Karma during this entire dramatic encounter--birds hitting the window, me talking to them and then talking to myself...and even opening the patio door??  Sleeping under a towel on her memory foam mattress.  Heaven forbid we disturb her all-afternoon nap--LOL!  She missed the entire thing--and slept another couple hours.  That's the life, eh?

We've had some beautiful but chilly days.

The jackrabbits come by almost every day in the late afternoon/early evening.  Except when there are a lot of people walking and riding bicycles on the pathway.  So with the nicer weather trying to arrive, may be seeing less of the rabbits.

Karma spends her mornings in the sunshine, though.  

Whether the door is open or shut... 

...she needs her basking time. 

Happy girl. 

Yesterday McFamily came for a visit.  Leah showed me how to connect and disconnect the 92 Paseo to the charger (you know how it won't keep a charge) and I took notes and drew diagrams.  (Not technically or mechanically inclined.)  This weekend is the any kind of trash by the curb weekend where you can get rid of furniture, broken appliances, whatever.  But I already had purged before I moved and would rather give away the things I don't need on freecycle.  

****

But that means, now that it is getting nicer out, that I need to get out to the garage and sort and make a list for freecycle ads because Dagan and Leah would like to store some big stuff for ValleyCon again in my garage like they did years ago.  I have plenty of room out there, but need to get out what I can before I can't reach the give-away stuff, you know?  So I am going to need some help sorting, I guess.  

****

I haven't had a video of Ian for some time.  Caught Ian and Daddy playing. 

This video cut off just like the Hawk and Sparrow one did.  Luckily for me, not in a bad spot.  My cell phone said it was full?  Leah checked it out and I had no idea that every picture and video I have ever taken on the cell phone were all still IN the cell phone--LOL!  I thought since they went to Dropbox they weren't in the phone anymore.  Told you--not technically inclined.  Geez!  But that is all fixed now.  Thanks, Leah!  And thanks Dagan and Leah for buying Applebees for dinner!  Dagan ran over to do the curbside thing.  How fancy!  

****

I have been taking the additional vitamins and drinking Gatorade and eating bananas--and since Thursday have felt better than I have in a month!  Just to feel more alert and to have the energy to run after Ian for giggles and to clear away the dishes and wipe down the table and countertops after dinner--whoohoo!!  Yup!  That is how bad it's been.  But in the last couple of days I've been able to work on the monthly bills, my grocery list, and the bullet journal for May and it didn't feel like climbing Mt. Everest!  Hurray!  Things are really looking up.  :)

****

Happy Sunday!!

Have a superlative week and hope to chat again soon.  :):)

****

"When the bridge is gone, the narrowest plank becomes precious."

Hungarian Proverb

Thursday-10:15am

Good Morning, All!

Another cloudy, chilly day--but look at the grass!

They actually came to mow and trim for the first time yesterday.

****

While I was sitting in the small recliner to take these pictures Miss Karma started begging for a foot pet. 

She only lets me (and on rare occasions, Dagan) give her foot pets. 

I can even scratch her neck. 

Well, Leah and I were planning to go to the second Craft Night here in the community room on Monday.  That afternoon the new calendar was tucked into my door and come to find out there is not one craft night listed for May, but there are three afternoons.

****

Long backstory:

The lady who does the calendar and is trying to start up these various activities has been trying evenings and afternoons for various activities.  There are now Movie Nights and Afternoon Movies, Game Nights and Afternoon Games, etc.  She wants to see if more people would come to an afternoon group or an evening group--which makes sense.  

****

Two weeks before when Leah and I went to that first Craft Night (and the only craft group event before she made up the new calendar) I told you how we were the only people who actually showed up to craft.  Other people hung around and chatted and it sounded like some people were interested in bringing needlework.  The calendar lady sat at our table with us for most of the evening as others came and went--and the couple playing cribbage that set up at the next table chimed in now and then.  I mentioned how it takes time to get an activity going, but we'd try to be there.  (Assuming she was sticking to Monday nights because she only had the two Monday night craft groups in April, right?) 

****

Because of people who came by to see what we were doing--and a couple of them sat down with us for a while--the calendar lady heard me 2-3 times introduce Leah and tell people how Monday nights were perfect because that was the night Leah and I usually got together for crafts anyways.  Calendar lady mentioned that she might throw in an afternoon, too...a couple of times.  (Afterwards I realized that it was every time I mentioned Monday nights being perfect for Leah and I to come.)  I responded every time with saying that Leah couldn't make it in the afternoons, but I probably could. 

****

Leah was certainly not intrusive.  She's a soft-spoken, quiet lady who worked away all evening, but would take the time to explain and chat with anyone who asked her questions.  And she and I chatted a bit telling them about us making Christmas cards together, etc.  I'm the louder, more vocal one--LOL!  

****

So, when I looked at the new May calendar and saw there was not one single craft night (nothing whatsoever on Monday nights for the first time, for that matter) but three afternoon craft groups...when we had only had the one single first ever craft group meeting that Leah and I were the only ones who came to craft and there seemed to be some interest and we indicated that we would be there...well, what would you think?  

****

I took it as a passive aggressive way to say they didn't want Leah to come.  Age prejudice, if you ask me.  And here it was Leah who was the first one to bring up doing a make-and-take on our way back to the apartment that night.

****

  Their loss. 

****

So, I got ahold of Leah right away and told her about the new calendar.  I didn't want to go down there that night at all.  For one thing there apparently wasn't going to be a Monday Craft Night here, anyways...and I was much too annoyed to be around calendar lady.  So I told Leah she could take her time and not rush to come early--just come at the regular time and we'd stay here like usual.  So we had a good time creasing and folding cardstock.  Filled that black box and only have that small stack left to fold.  So we've got a lot of card bases for Christmas and birthday cards prepped. 

Will I go to the afternoon craft group get-togethers?  

****

I'll have to play it by ear.  Right now, I have absolutely no desire whatsoever.  You don't mess with snub people I love.  I do not like passive aggressive baloney.  If they don't like non-residents coming to things--just say so.  Well, I guess they did.  Indirectly.

****

Honestly, this is why my entire life I have had trouble getting along with a lot of women--LOL!  My girlfriends over the years were always open and direct.  Basically--"what you see is what you get" type of people--or they knew they could be with me, at least.  ;)  They had to be--to tolerate me and for me to trust them as a person, you know?  We didn't have to agree on everything or think exactly alike or have the same interests, but we just accepted each other and didn't judge.  I was never good at all that game-playing, nice-to-your-face-but-stab-you-in-the-back games.  Awk!  Can't stand any of it.  My tolerance level for such nonsense has lowered the older I get. 

****

     Not that I won't remain distantly polite bumping into anyone and everyone in the hallways (even calendar lady), but it is possible I might not be socializing here at all or very, very little.  Even the movies (calendar lady is mostly in charge) are Disney, very GP (she's made it very clear that "they" don't want anyone bringing movies that have sex, bad language, or violence), or actual "Christian" movies.  Well, I know I do live in a very conservative part of the country...but come on!  Not that I didn't like The Apple Dumpling Gang, but I'd rather stay home and watch Netflix--LOL!  

****  

I don't have much in common with the people who have showed up for activities so far.  I have not run across anyone yet who I would ever think of inviting over for coffee.  If there are any open-minded, straightforward, tree-hugging hippies here...they are probably staying close to home, too--ROFL!!

****

It's no skin off my nose, as they say.  I have been perfectly content totally by myself for over eleven years just seeing Dagan & Leah (and now Ian!) and Caroline when she comes to clean or bring groceries.  Socially--I have had all of you in blogland--several of which have become pen pals!  All my friends I write to who knew me for years before I moved up here to the FM area.  And these days any stress physically adds to my pain level.  Don't want it or need it.  

****

Let's just say that I am not feeling as "social"--LOL!  I will not want to jump in with both feet again like I did with the craft group.  If anything, it will be toe in the water from now on.  Odds are, if I ever do go in the afternoon for crafts I won't even bring anything with me when I go check it out...just like the other people did that first night craft group.  Such is life in the senior apartments, eh?

****

But Miss Karma and I are just fine.  Leah and Ian came by on Tuesday for a visit and I was so happy to see our little chatterbox that I never even got a picture!  He talks all the time now (even if half the time we don't know what he is saying--LOL!).  We did puzzles, read books, painted with water, and had a nature show about Antartica on while we visited.  (Gramma had been watching it before they came over.)  

****

Just wanted to let you know why Leah and I didn't attend the second craft night here and why I might possibly even pass on going to the afternoon craft groups in May.  I shall be reminding myself not to judge.  They can do whatever they want.  They do not need me, either--LOL!  And they can't help but be who they are, as well. 

**** 

Besides that little snag...I am feeling better and better.  Doing what I can to try to build up my immune system so I don't catch the next thing going around.  (Maybe another reason to not be social--ROFL!)  Had Leah pick me up some D3, B complex, and fish oil to take along with my multiple vitamins.  They're Costco brand so not top of the line, but better than nothing, I figure.  I also have a case of gatorade to build up my electrolytes--and bananas for potassium since I got so dehydrated.  I was still feeling weak and lightheaded.  Feeling stronger and a bit more grounded since Leah brought the bananas and gatorade.  She picked up some frozen fruit mix for me, too...so I can make smoothies.  Whoohoo!!

****

Well, you knew you'd hear about my adventures at the old folks home.  Now you know the latest.  ;)  It's almost the weekend.  Now that I devoured Damages on Netflix streaming, I am watching something light--Property Brothers.  I just rented The H8ful Eight.  Just as expected from Quentin Tarantino--dark with dark-dark humor--and bloody--with twists.  Recently watched The Lady In The Van, too--based on a true story.   Maggie Smith blew me away!  Since we last spoke, I've seen the Canadian geese, the jackrabbits late in the day, and tons of small birds...but no grouse.  I still LOVE it here.  (The old lady shenanigans don't spoil anything for me.)  And Baby Phil loves it here, too!

****

****

Do you remember Phil from the old place that I had to give away because he got so large and out of control--LOL!  Baby Phil has really started to take off since we moved here where he gets more light.   

****

And since Karma has picked her favorite chair spot to sleep (she never would sit on the other recliner over here for some reason) she seems much more settled in here.

****

So have a great weekend!!  We might hit the low 60s this weekend--whoohoo!!  I am off to make a smoothie.  :):)

****

 "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences."

Audre Lorde

Saturday-12:15pm

Good Afternoon!  :)

The Canadian geese have waddled past in the grass...

...and right down the sidewalk. 

They aren't frightened away by joggers or small dogs on leashes, which absolutely cracks me up.   

They kind of calmly dare anybody to come any closer.  Size is a factor in the wild...and temperament.  Geese can be nasty when pushed--LOL!  So they wander quite regally past depending on reputation of their species, I guess.  ;)

****

I took this picture last week.  The grass on my side of the sidewalk was getting quite green (probably with the added assistance of rabbit and grouse fertilizer) but across the way was brown as can be. 

Oh!  Caught Karma drinking water--just to bug her.  Do you see that look?!  I have rarely taken pictures of her eating--LOL! 

The sweet little pair of grouse were by another day. 

Sorry for the glare on the glass.  

****

We have had a few days where I could open the patio door wide... 

...and Miss Karma feels like she is outside. 

Well, almost. 

We've also had days where it was too chilly to even crack the door open for more than a few minutes for Karma to do her morning air sniffing. 

But this morning!  

(Notice how green the grass is!) 

Gorgeous, already 60 degrees, and windy.

Karma watches for twigs, leaves, dried grass... 

..anything to whip past across the cement...

...so she can race back and forth (believe it or not she doesn't always lay around--LOL!) along the patio door.  She must think they are small critters or bugs or toys--something exciting.  The real spooky thrill for her, though, is when an empty plastic bag, freed from a dumpster somewhere, gets caught up in the whirlwind vortex outside our door.  Can keep her busy for hours--LOL!

****

Well, there were no thunderstorms.  We've had a lot of drizzly rain, though, that the grass has adored.  They say possible thunderstorms again later today, but I won't hold my breath.  They seem to pass around us for some reason.  I'm still waiting for my first good storm.  Do love them!  :)

****

I was so sick that I didn't even take many pictures for weeks.  With birthday money I did buy a few things I didn't really need, as a person should, right?  See the white paint splattered paper tray?  It is lightweight and can hold a ream of paper, I guess--but I got it to hold all my letters in progress, current pens, and the clips I use to help keep various bookcards and tablets together (bum arm assistance).

Plus I got a set of Brusho crystalized watercolors and a set of Color Burst powdered watercolors.  After Leah and I finish up with our current projects the next thing is to play with these and a masking fluid resist. 

Leah wanted to switch from Monday to Thursday for Craft Night this week, but had forgotten her youngest sister, Ariel, was coming up for a visit.  So we will meet again on this coming Monday night--which by this time is another Craft Night here in the community room.  So Leah will come early and we will wheel down our stuff again.  :)  Wonder if anyone else will bring something to work on?

****

There was an impromptu walk-through of every unit this past Monday morning.  When I woke up at 9am I saw a piece of paper under the door that said the walk-throughs of all the units would start at 9:30am!  I scrambled to shower and throw some clothes on.  Turned out--people had been complaining about residents smoking in their apartments and he did this whole thing without much warning so that he could literally walk through and smell for cigarette smoke--LOL!  

****

Now I haven't smoked since 1989, but I have wondered ever since I moved here to this "Smoke Free" building why in the world they would allow smokers to move here in the first place??  They gathered last fall in lawn chairs out in somebody's garage--about half a dozen of them.  When it's cold out they stand right next to the door at the entrance--which is six months of the year up here.  I wouldn't doubt they might smoke on their balconies.  But why would you allow them to move in when they can be evicted for smoking in their apartments?  Makes no sense at all.

****

When I was a smoker--and you know I am one to follow rules and could never lie about it if asked--I don't think there's any way I wouldn't have grabbed a smoke in my own apartment.  Especially when it's 20 below outside and windy as hell...or if I woke up at 2am and couldn't get back to sleep and felt too miserable to get dressed.  Man!  Am I ever glad I don't smoke anymore!!  For so many reasons.  Imagine how bad my health would be if I was a smoker now?  Well, I could very likely already be dead, for that matter.

****

But that is why I would never have moved into a non-smoking building when I was a smoker.  I know myself too well.  I could never have followed the restrictions.  I think these people were just fooling themselves, you know?  So are the owners.  Maybe the owners were afraid of being sued or something, I don't know.  But why??  There are all kinds of other restrictions for living here--age, income, etc.  And they are even planning on making an outdoor smoking spot for them this summer?!

****

I can totally empathize, having been a smoker...but why would you even consider moving into a no-smoking building?  That is one of the things after 10 1/2 years of the fire alarm going off when I lived on third floor in West Winds that I was happy about when I was moving here.  A no smoking building!  Well, not really.  Just baffles me.  I thought no smoking meant no smoking??

****  

Oh well.  Not up to me, eh?

****

Okay--I promised to tell you about Give A Girl A Journal.  Maybe you remember the stack of blank journals I purged and had in a box in the garage to give away on freecycle this spring? 

 All the not fountain pen friendly journals I had collected over the years? 

Well, Dagan and Leah have a Canadian friend, Nick, who comes down to visit regularly and he was kind enough to haul them back home with him (and Leah added several she picked up at Target, too) so that they could be mailed to Jamie Ridler in Toronto for way less than it would have cost me from the US to Canada.  [In fact, I couldn't afford it and it broke my heart.  Leah came up with idea of asking Nick who was coming down over Easter!  Many thanks to Nick!!]

****

Jamie started up this Give A Girl A Journal program (you can click on the sidebar) and I knew the minute I heard about it I wished I could send her all the journals from my garage.  I started writing when I was about nine in 5th grade.  Having a younger brother and sister I didn't feel I had a safe place to keep a "diary" or journal (really wrote just for myself, anyways) so I wrote pages and pages using school filler paper (college ruled, both sides) and then I would destroy it all.  Growing up--writing and reading were everything to me.

****

When I was in high school I started to use spiral notebooks--that I actually kept.  Everybody knew by that time not to mess with any of my papers or pens--off limits or there would be hell to pay.  To this day nobody uses a pen (I have pen cups in several spots) without asking if it's an okay pen to use.  In fact, they usually just ask for a pen and I go get them one--well, often giving them a choice of several options--LOL!  But, I digress.

****

Writing, for me, was a way to sort things out, see more clearly, and stay on a good path.  I always felt I wrote and wrote around and around something that was bothering me until I finally understood the deeper true reason I was upset and arrived at a more positive perspective.  Remember those cartoons where there would be an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other?  Well, that is kind of how I felt when I wrote.  It was a battle on paper--for many, many years.  I would write until the angel won.  (Needless to say, I filled up those notebooks pretty rapidly--lol!)  But writing was my personal salvation.

****

In high school I started to write poetry sometimes.  I also took sending notes in class to a whole new level.  I wrote them at home half the time and tried to find new and interesting things to write on--like toilet paper and making little scrolls out of adding machine tape.  (No surprise I love making the bookcards today, eh?)  I always had small spiral notebooks in my purse and loved to go with my mom to the mall and people watch.  I would find a bench and write down character descriptions or just whatever I was thinking about.  

****

I wrote through first boyfriend, first lover, being around my boyfriend and his friends who sniffed glue and smoked grass (and they accepted me even though I didn't), the events of the late 60s--Vietnam, assassinations, Kent State, 68 convention, Black Power, Women's Rights...we thought we were going to change the world...and it really felt like the world was falling apart.  I wrote about rape, trying drugs and alcohol for the first time, first job in a pet shop, running away to Canada to join a commune, lovers, feeding & caring for street kids, losing my job and ending up on the street myself for a summer...anything and everything. 

****

Well, after a few years I had this whole suitcase filled with spiral notebooks, large and small.  Then, in a terrible turn of events, a nasty ex-roommate gave the suitcase to a schizophrenic (really was--found out later from his priest uncle) ex-boyfriend...and he only read enough to hit upon another lover and made a bonfire of them all in his folks' driveway.   

****

It felt like a piece of myself had gone up in smoke.  I didn't write for years.  

****

But it turned out to be a good thing in the long run because it freed me from being attached to my own words--to the past, too.  Over the years I have journaled...just for myself.  And every so often I destroy them all.  But I have to write!  I would be lost without that ability to sort things out on paper with my angel and devil sides--LOL!  I need to write!  Even if most of the time my "diary-journal" is very dull and of no interest to anyone but myself.  Just what I did or didn't do or want to do--the weather, the critters, Karma--sometimes what I am watching on Netflix--the place I allow myself to complain sometimes about how crummy I really feel or about whatever I wouldn't want to burden the rest of the world with that day...well, actually the day before.  I write when I wake up.  Quite similar to my blog, come to think of it--ROFL!   

****

Anyways, if you would want to know more about the Give A Girl A Journal program just click the link in my sidebar.  I'd appreciate it.  They normally just take donations.  People don't send them journals--LOL!  And if you know of any young girl who might benefit from a journal--just enter her name!  :)

****

Did any of you journal or keep a diary of sorts?  Do you still?  Or is your blog your journal?  Do you write letters?  Do you have pen pals?  Do you handwrite anything anymore?  I am curious.  (I know some of you write letters because we write to each other!)  

****

Even when I am having terrible days if I am going to do anything at all--I will journal--I will write letters or make lists.  I have discovered this about myself since being chronically ill...the one thing my soul needs to do is write.  If I have one spoon--I will still journal in the morning, work on a letter if I'm able and just eat toast rather than use my spoon cooking.  ;)  Truth!  It comes before arts & crafts or some days even showering.  Pen to paper--something special about that.  It is so personal, more intimate, and to me it's calming and contemplative.  Very different than typing for some reason--even though I love blogs and blogging.  Hand writing keeps me grounded and positive.  I don't know why exactly, but ask me if I care--LOL!

****

Anyways, I have to say that I am enjoying blogging even more right now when I am back to blogging when I am having a good day and I am moved to do some sharing!  Whoohoo!  I can't imagine my blogs will ever be short.  Sorry.

****

  The sky has clouded over.  Maybe we will get some rain after all?  Karma gave up her patio post and is back to sleeping next to me at the table here in her chair.  That has become her favorite place to be in the new apartment.  She sleeps there at night, too.  But the chair has to be in just the right spot to my left and not tucked underneath the table.  In fact, I can take a picture of her right this minute.

****

****

Gosh, I love my cell phone and dropbox!

****

See how the chair is at this odd angle at the end of the table?  Testament to how much I love this cranky old cat that my OCD side puts up with the constant disarray!  It's like living with a picture hanging crooked two inches--LOL! 

****

Well, that about it from here.  I hope you are having as beautiful a day as we are--and have a spectacular weekend!!  :) :)

****

"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery." 

H.G. Wells