Monday, April 10, 2023

April 10, 2023 Monday--noon

Good morning!

So very many pictures this week!  Was busy busy...and that is such a good thing.  :)

Keanna came to clean on Tuesday.  I asked if I could get a picture of her--she didn't say no but was too shy to look up--lol!  She's such a sweet girl.

Keanna made it before the weather got worse, but we didn't get it as bad as we could have with the two day blizzard Tuesday and Wednesday.



We got a little over eight inches of snow with a lot of drifting because of the winds.



The rabbits and birds are always grateful to visit the Critter Cafe for meals.  :)
Because of the storm Leah and the boys didn't do the usual Tuesday shopping day but came on Friday.  
Dagan was with again because he had Good Friday off from work.
Had another really nice visit and Leah brought me a bunch of pre-cooked foods I have been nuking.  Delicious!  (Had her meatloaf for Easter Sunday!)
I got a lot done this past week!  I made it through my files!!  Found some owner's manuals I can give away with a few of the things I plan to sell or donate.
Meanwhile--my dishwasher isn't working very well.  That cover (for my big pyrex measuring cup that had beef soup in it) had some grease on it and the grease was still there after running it twice.  (This is why I normally pre-scrub everything--lol!--but Leah said I should stop doing that.)  
Leah even cleaned the filter and ran it again and this pic above was the third time...so I am going to call maintenance today.  And hopefully Gerald will come and I ask him whether he is still interested in the sauna.  I hope he is.  :)

Anyways, the new little file cabinet is full--bottom drawer and...
...top drawer.
Well, there's a skinny drawer at the top-top, too.  I haven't decided what will go in there yet.
Then I started in on the hallway bookcases!
Purging and packing away the books first.
I could get rid of books concerning supplies I am planning to let go of--like oil paints and polymer clay, for example.
Stacking boxes in the corner of the living room.
Shelves are emptying!!
Got through most of the books and then had a whole bunch of binders, magazine holders, and odds and ends to purge and organize all over the kitchen.
Ended up using several of those empty binders on the chair there.
I have wanted to get my Postman's Knock calligraphy classes organized and in binders for...well, years to be honest.  
Spent hours working on that until I finished.  Baby steps really works for me.  Also had a red tray full of odd paperwork from the studio to purge and sort through.
This shelf in the studio was packed full of calligraphy classes and that red tray!
You realize how dusty things can get when you haven't moved anything for a few  years--lol!
Made a lot of progress, though!
Hardest part is moving the boxes when they are full--lol!  I am going to leave that for Dagan and Leah in the future.  
I do need some larger U-Haul boxes that will fit the satchels and the cardstock racks.  Leah will pick me up some this week and some more book boxes (easier for me to move because they're smaller).

The boys have been busy, too!  I always love getting pictures so I can see what they've been up to.  Leah takes them to such fun places.  But this was at home making their birthday surprise art for Gramma's birthday.

I forget where this is but they love to climb on this brace.


After the storm--eating fresh snow!  We always loved to do that!!
The two fir trees in the front yard were almost buried!

All that snow is melting like crazy now.  It's been in the 40s!!
Ian and Liam always enjoy going to the climbing place.



Kind of one of their home school gym classes--LOL!
They did another Home Depot project.  I think those are a monthly event.


This time they made bird houses.
At the Plains Art Museum.


And last but not least--Easter Sunday!
Even though they color their own hard boiled eggs...
...they do love searching for them.


And getting chocolate bunny rabbits is always a treat!
Easter dinner with Leah's grandparents and her brother, Aaron.
Leah's been making the Easter egg cake for a few years now.
Next year I will be there, too!

So this week I will continue to work on the hallway bookcases and see what else I can get done.  The boys are going to see the Mario Brothers movie tomorrow afternoon.  It will be Liam's first time at a movie theater!  Aaron is going with, too.  Such excitement!

The snow will continue to melt rapidly.  The flood watch has started for the Red River.  (Not near us, though.)  I can hear the constant dripping from the balcony above tapping on my air conditioner.  The patio is a super gross mess of rabbit poop and sunflower seed shells.  I'll have to shovel it off as soon as the ice underneath melts enough.  Spring is here--lol!  

It feels soooo good to get more purging and packing done!!  Time for lunch.  Happy Monday.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and the week ahead looks full of promise and smiles.  Till next week!

Sunday, April 02, 2023

April 2, 2023 Sunday--1:15pm

Greetings!

I know some of you remark at how organized I am but here is proof that my studio is a mess! 

Since I haven't been feeling good all winter...
...all three little tables have become dumping grounds.
I need to tackle this chaos in here pretty soon.  
Even if I just shove stuff here and there to clear off tables--LOL!
I can't really play in here until I have table room...at least one table, anyways--lol!

I had a nice birthday on Tuesday.  It was the regular shopping day for Leah and the boys so I knew they would be dropping off a few groceries for me.  But they also brought dinner and Dagan surprised me by showing up, too!  We all had dinner together.  :)

We've had more snow.  The city plow came through to clear off the walkway.
Patio doesn't look such a dreadful mess with fresh snow--lol!
We are far from spring.
The partridges fled when the plow came through, but you can see they had dug another hidey-hole for the night.
As soon as the plow went by the critters were back digging on the patio.

But off they flew...
...because the plow...
...was coming back...
...the other direction--lol!
This one pair of partridges is my most regular of visitors.

I had a total surprise visitor on Wednesday morning--only because I am so foggy brained that if I don't write things down I forget all about them.  Luckily I was awake because my hours are so flipped and all over the place...the guy was here for my annual apartment inspection for Federal Housing--LOL!  He is never here but five to ten minutes--so that is over with.  He was very happy for me with the no more cancer news.  Said he was going to miss me.  (Should be moved before a year is up.)

  Oh--I got these out of sequence!  The boys brought me happy birthday art!  They put them up on my frig.
They have folded orange strips of paper behind the hearts so that they bounce.  :)
When I was puttering around I came across some hunks of memory foam mattress pads in the closet that I had saved and decided to put a piece under Allie's bed in the hallway.
Now it is her favorite cat bed and she is often asleep there between the bookcase and the box of Charmin--lol!
What did I get done this week?  Well, I did get through that box of rubber stamps!  Did a final purge so this is the full donation box now in the pantry.
I finally have a second box packed and stacked in the corner of the living room.
A few of the rubber stamps went into a bin I was putting together with items to use for decorating letters and envelopes.  I've never had them all in one place before.  :)
Had another bag I kept out that is full of stamps I want to use once more before I might decide to donate them.
So, anyways, I got through the box of stamps.

Since Allie liked the memory foam under the one cat bed I stuck a hunk under the bed on "her" chair.  Took her many days to actually not freak out when she stepped inside and leap off.  She is so weird.  But she finally stayed and tried it...and now she loves this bed more, too.
I have been busy writing letters!  Lots of paper chatting going on.  :)

Then I decided on the next project.
Yup--the new little file cabinet.

I haven't gotten very far with my baby steps...
...but I did get the desk files out of the box I had piled them into and they're now piled on the table.
Drug out the bin with the broken cover that has all my art & craft files...
...and even got out my dusty old metal file box I bought when I was a senior in high school 56 years ago when I was sixteen.  All these years it has stored things and still keeps the odd life paperwork like marriage and divorce papers--lol!
This was my not so secret "pen name" in high school.
I think it is time to let this go--LOL!

So--you know what I will be working on this week.  Purging files.  This will be a long, slow process...file by file...but will be so nice when it is done and all my files are actually in one place.  A first for me!!  Whoohoo!!  The new file cabinet will eventually go to live in my new studio closet.  :)

How am I doing?  Well, I can breathe through both sides of my nose right now!  My mouth is less than half as dry and sticky as it was.  Not so much progress with the diarrhea, but I'll take what I can get.  I am getting more done.  So generally better than I was.  :)

My sleep is all over the place, though.  I even started writing it down because I wondered how much sleep I was actually getting altogether.  Really been random and unpredictable!  [Thursday 1-4pm, 6:45-9:45pm...Friday 11:15pm-3am, 10pm-1:45am, 6:45am-12:15pm, 7:30-8:30pm...Saturday 9:45pm-2:45am...Sunday 7pm-2:15am and I am working on this at 1pm on Sunday since who knows when I'll be awake or asleep to post this for Monday--ROFL!]  I can't seem to make myself sleep or make myself stay awake.  Probably the steroids.  But I figure whenever I can sleep that has to be good for me.  Sleep is healing.

I figure that since I am getting a bit tired again (been up since 2:15am) and because I could sleep for 2 hours or 12 hours...I am just going to finish this earlier than usual and post it right now today.  I'm sure you won't mind.  ;)  

It's been a good week.  This coming week should be a good week, too, where I can work away--baby steps--on the file cabinet.  Just so glad to be feeling better than I was and I don't have any appointments for a long time...well, except for Keanna cleaning on Tuesday.  Life is good!!  Just a happy girl.  Content.  Grateful for the progress so far.  (Fingers crossed on the diarrhea--ROFL!)  Just plain in a good mood.  Glad I can sleep whenever I need to and Allie is fine with it.  May you have a really good week, too!!!  Till next time...