November 9, 2025 Sunday

Greetings!

Another week in the unpacking saga--lol!  

Oh, and in the small red trays saga, too.  You may recall I said I got quietly reimbursed for the two sets of trays I never received--well, I suddenly got an email saying I had a set of trays being delivered on Friday?  Checked my bank and they had taken out the amount for two sets of trays again...but it only said they were sending one set.  And none of the amounts were ever the same, BTW.  Every amount was different but not by much.  A couple of days later I got another notice that a set of trays was shipped. ??  The one set did arrive.  Will the other one?  I hope so.  Due on the 18th, it says.  I would be glad to have them in the end even if it will cost me about an extra $2.00--lol!  What a crazy order, eh?

The heater quit working.  All Dagan did was unplug it and plug it back in and it has been working all week.  Dagan has that magic touch with appliances and techie stuff.  Half the time he has no idea why they work for him--lol!

Same thing happened with the TV this past week.  It said it was suddenly disconnected from the internet.  Dagan unplugged it and plugged it back in up there back in the laundry room and it worked fine.  Did it again a few days later...same thing.  He showed me where the plug is--lol!  We've been having issues with Midco, but Dagan may need a new router or some techie thing or another.  

Oh, and speaking of the internet...I got a credit check from the electric company from my old apartment and almost fell over!  I've been on the budget plan for a decade where you pay the same amount every month.  But I really wonder when was the last time they actually came out and read the meter at that apartment building!?  I got an overpayment check for $418.00!!  Which is fantastic because I can put it towards a new laptop!!   (You knew I would get to the internet eventually--lol!)  My laptop has been acting more and more strangely and slower and slower for the past year or more.  It is probably 6-7 years old.   (Things don't last like they used to, do they?)  I only need a really basic one...email, streaming, some online shopping, and blogging is about it for me.  Nothing work-related and don't use it for gaming or things like that--so can have a simpler one.  Dagan is going to keep an eye out for something on sale.  They could make up the difference and it be a Christmas present--lol!  So that was fantastic news. 

Before I forget...something I really noticed this past week is that Allie is turning gray.    

Her fur on her back is different from the rest of her fur.  It is coarser and a bit longer.  The rest of her is very soft, but from behind her shoulder blades down her back she has different fur.  And it looks like she is getting gray down her sides and from her butt up--lol!  A vet guesstimated her at about eight years old when she was rescued and that would make her about eleven.  I caught another picture later, too.  Feels like she's been with me forever, but it's only been three years.  

Okay--the unpacking continued...

I found the boxes of all the goodies from my old curio cabinet! 

 Oh how I have missed them!  They were packed up so long ago!!  My crystals!  

My Tibetan bowl and bell and tingshaws!  Found out those high sounds freak Allie out--lol!

I am so excited to be able to do my New Year's Eve welcoming ceremony this year!  Come hell or high water...I will get out my angel cards and burning bowl this year.  And maybe show you more of my spiritual stuff I have accumulated over the years.  I need to feel more connected and grounded, for sure.

Here's another pic of Allie's graying or lightening back.

Dagan did find one of the Christmas bags!

I got out the Charley Brown Christmas tree I bought on sale after Christmas last year and put it together!  The winter garlands were with it, but I haven't put them out yet.  Needed to clear off some space.

Allie doesn't look gray from her soft fur side--lol!

Whenever they are down here the boys (Liam especially) play with the frig magnets.  Liam made a couple smiling faces.  (Dagan happened to be walking by thinking.)

I emptied off those two shelves in the laundry room and wiped them down.  Nowhere else to put that stuff that was on the shelves but on top of the bins and on the floor. 

 I worked at moving the pantry stuff out of the hutches.

Filled the plastic baskets with cans and bottles to haul them over.  Got this far one day.

The next day moved the rest...

...except for the tea supplies.  I plan to keep them in the hutch, hopefully.

Dagan moved some more boxes for me...

...was locating boxes for my black rollie carts.  The "writing/journaling" rollie carts.

Am making headway with the boxes in the studio.  I think I may have made it through about half of the living room boxes.

Just beginning to see an eventual end to these boxes.

Got the two black rollie carts put back together!!  I have missed them!  Needed them.  I needed my stamps, return address labels and other supplies for letters.  I had only saved out some to have with me when I moved and had begun to run out of everything!  Who would have ever guessed I'd be sick and in a flare for six weeks after I moved! 

The chaos seems to grow--and shrink--and grow--lol!

But I got the dressers cleared off by the window again.

Took a couple of days but I moved all the curio cabinet things...

...into the one hutch!  Not sure if they will stay like this, but that is how everything is being moved here--temporarily shoved in somewhere or another.  LOL!  They will be in this hutch, but maybe some of it will be moved below if there's room. 

Then, because I got my black rollie carts up and running--I could set up letters owed!  Nine of them are all set up and ready to start.  Sorry to my snail mail folks that I am so behind, but I will be writing soon!

I saw way in the back of the studio on the floor was the other lazy susan Leah had told me about for under the sinks and some storage boxes of some kind...so I asked Dagan to come down and get those for me.  After falling, I didn't want to chance it climbing over the stuff on the floor there.

Allie snoozes when I am busy unpacking a lot.  She is afraid of being trampled--lol!  Is usually asleep under the folding tables.

First time I have gotten it cleaned off on the dressers under the TV!  

Allie is a very chunky girl and has a hard time jumping up on my chair since we moved.  I don't know if she has lost her confidence or what.  Because if she tries several times she can do it.  She can't jump up at all to the bed in the red chair.  She has to cross over from my chair using the end table.  I have tried putting the stool in front that I used to have in my bathroom to climb up to the shelves over my washer and dryer at the old place.  

She's never been around stairs I don't think.  She doesn't seem to have any idea what they are for and won't go near them.  I will leave them there for a while and see if she will try them eventually.  Otherwise, they will be donated, too, as I have zero room for them here.  The folding stools take up much less room.  :)

I keep plugging away at things on the table.  Some of it is moved.  All my energy-work books and bibles and such went into the bottom of the hutch.

Allie follows me around half the time.  Wants to know what I am doing.  Why isn't she curious as to what steps are?  Duh!

End of the week...I even made a spot for my new paint kit to be used!

Yes, I ordered some things I could keep in my cat tote for now.  Things I have never had--like the type of brushes (heard they were cheap fake quill, but good--we'll see).  Things I use all the time--like painter's tape and my favorite Daniel Smith paints.  Just enough to be able to paint once in a while.  I got this far last night--drew a pencil flower sketch on the smaller paper you can't see very well that's taped to the white board--but then was too sore to sit there anymore--LOL

I really, really need more of a calming escape than just watching shows and YT videos.  Have had those transparent flowers on my mind ever since I first played with them.  When I am actually creating something, I can get lost in time and I desperately needed to be able to do that at least once in a while.  Just having the supplies arrive I could feel my shoulders relax, you know?  I guess I learned that I am more likely able to do that earlier in the day--lol! ;)  But I will be doing that--hopefully once a week or so.

When I DO paint...I have to block the mess out of my mind...all the things I "should" be doing...even if it is only for half an hour or so.  The stuff in the studio...

...and the mess in the laundry room.  Feels like nothing is really organized.

My faithful companion was wondering why I was walking around taking pictures.  Notice--Leah taped down the corners of the rug and they are holding up well.

The unfinished unpacking...

...and even the dishes ready to be put away out of the dishwasher.  (I love that you can set this new dishwasher to pop the door open to air dry!!)

Maybe I need to put out the winter garlands somewhere?

Okay!  Under the TV...

...and around the Christmas cactus--that has one more regular blossom!  (I'll be glad when I have a place for the printer in the studio.) 

There!  I got a little something done today.  But that's it for me.  If I do anything else today besides work on letters it would be to get lost in time painting transparent flower petals--lol! 

Winter is coming.  It's been below freezing all day.  Not really sure I will last long even writing letters.  Body is pretty darn cranky today--lol!  Wasn't happy about the garlands even.  Definitely pushing for a day off.  ;)  

On Tuesday there's a guy coming to check the furnace for the winter.  Leah's going to be here while he's here and told me to pick a couple things from the "Leah list" for her to do.  (We have so many on the list--lol!)

Oh, and I probably only miss doorbells going ding-dong because I have lived most of my adult life in apartments where you heard a loud annoying buzzer--ROFL!  Ding-dong has good memories for me from long ago--lol!  Hey!  My mom was even an Avon lady when I was in grade school!  Do you remember those commercials?

Until next time, my dear friends...you are soooo appreciated!  I can't really tell you how nice it is to hear from you--old and new folks.  I will be catching up with my snail mail chats this coming week, too.  Have a wonderful week!  If there's anything you love to do where you can get lost in time...get lost this week!!  :) :)

November 2, 2025 Sunday

Greetings!

How can I have been so busy all week and got so little done--lol!  I have uncovered some gifts from old friends, though.  The two little red vases I got when my dear friend, Ruby, and I would go browsing in antique stores.  I still miss her.

She surprised me for no reason one day with this crazy looking cat figurine with two birds on its back.  Said she thought of me the instant she laid eyes on it.

Was very top heavy and fell over sooo many times.  The tail has been glued back on, the post has been glued back into the wooden cube (it is loose again), and the cat has been glued back into the post.  One year I finally glued the whole thing on to a heavy glass coaster and it hasn't fallen over since.

What a joy to see my two angel figurines I was surprised with (on two separate occasions) by my friend, Lynnette, I have known since before Dagan was born.  It is his birthday today!  My miracle baby is 51 years old!!  Truly a blessing!  

I remember his neo-natal nurse, Osa, (we've stayed in touch all these years) got all serious with me..."you do realize he'll never live to be five years old".  People always seemed to think because I could find joy in him just being here that day and find things to laugh about that I wasn't accepting how bad his heart was.  I knew.  I most certainly did.  Plenty of time to deal with problems when they come up and I didn't want Dagan to be surrounded by negative energy.  Positives!  Positives!  As long as he was going to be here...he was such a joy to me.  We smiled and laughed as much as possible.  I wanted him to have the best life he could have and be the best person he could be for however long he was here.  Life is too precious and too short.  

When I do stop talking and laughing and smiling...then you know things are really bad.  I know I am not right.  I have to deal with whatever it is that is stealing my joy, kick myself in the butt, and make a choice to get it back.  Life is truly too precious and too short.  :)

Also this week...look at this strange blossom on my cactus.  No, no petals fell off.  Have you ever seen one like this?

Looks like a more normal one is coming along.  Weird or normal, I will enjoy whatever blooms!

I got my letter telling us SNAP was put on pause.  

Without any notice, I discovered Amazon reimbursed me for the two sets of trays that never arrived!  That was such an unexpected and pleasant surprise!!

I unloaded all the living room boxes...

...but they are still there on the folding tables...

...making me feel like I didn't get anything done this past week--lol!

But I was busy.  Honest.  Took my usual couple of days off when I got too sore, but I was busy.  Ask Allie.

Made more where-are-things-going-for-now decisions.  Leah constructed this carpet enclosure we planned to use to for Allie's litter box to corral the litter...but we know how that turned out.  

So I asked Dagan to come down and move it into the storage area that is overflowing with stuff anyways.

Then we moved (or Dagan did--lol!) all the bins from the corner of the studio...

...into the corner of the maintenance/laundry room!

While that was being done, I spied three large boxes... 

...that said "L satchels" on them!  TaDa!

Yah!  Unloaded them.  There were four satchels that didn't have to go in with the living room correspondence satchels, so I put them in the studio for now.

Meanwhile, Leah had another brilliant idea for peace of mind!

She hung a little 3M hook down low by the shower so I can hang my watch there while I take a shower.  In case I should ever fall, I could reach it...hopefully.  You may remember my sister collapsed in her shower from a brain tumor and laid there for three days with the water running on her.  Wouldn't have helped in that case as she was unconscious, but you never know.  I have definitely felt safer since I have this new smart watch, I can tell you.

I worked at getting the living room satchels organized and put away.  Allie rolled on the floor sometimes to get my attention for some occasional petting.  Luckily, she will accept foot pets, too.

Love it!  Filled the one...

...a couple thin ones in the other hutch, but those other four may end up in here, too.  I also can't remember exactly how many satchels I have that go in the studio hutches.

The lazy susans are in place and as organized as I could get things.  I thank my friend, Bonnie, for sending me a set of clear acrylic lazy susans as a housewarming gift a couple years ago.  They hold more and fit in the kitchen.  I am using lazy susans in the bathroom cabinet, too...but haven't gotten in there yet.

All the climbing up and down on the stool--well, kind of put my knee out or sorts.  Hence the two days off this past week.  Becoming a pattern--lol!  But that's okay.  My body makes sure I take lots of breaks--lol!

Because I got into all the correspondence satchels I found my birthday cards!!  Therefore I was also able to send off belated birthday cards to the people I missed in September and October.  They went out in the mail!  Nice!  Makes me feel better.

Halloween--my knee was not in a good mood, but Leah snuck me down a couple of large keto white chocolate bars for the boys and they came down and rang my doorbell. 

I don't think I even told you that I have a door bell!!  There were lots of sounds I could have chosen, but you may not be surprised to know I chose the good old-fashioned ding-dong!  LOL!  I couldn't always hear them knocking with my bad hearing, but I can always hear the doorbell.  I love it!!

 

Also--wanted to try a different kind of a watch band...and I LOVE IT!  

I didn't think I would like one of the more plastic-y bands but I found out they are really just fine.  And they don't have the end of the band sticking out!  It tucks in behind!

My new constant companion.  I used to wear a watch all the time every day for jobs and for school.  Haven't worn one since 2005...but I was surprised at how quickly I feel naked without it now.

Time to find my Christmas bags.  Who knows where they might be.  I don't have many decorations at all, but last year I bought a Charly Brown Christmas tree on sale after Christmas and a couple of winter swags or whatever you call them.  I know they are somewhere in a white trash bag with Christmas written across it in Sharpie marker--lol!  I could use some early Christmas this year, I think.

Today I am doing laundry.  I don't think I ever showed you the colored dryer balls I got long before I moved in--lol!  I love them!

Well, I keep plugging away.  Keeps me out of trouble, eh?  Hope to continue to have progress this coming week, too.  And to finally move the pantry into the laundry room.  That was the decision on the pantry whereabouts--lol!  Plan to eventually--after can move those bins into the storage room--have some shelves where those bins are now where I can store dry goods, appliances, or whatever else I need accessible.  More storage space will be available eventually.  That's good.

I hear a mower going.  Not sure if it is Dagan or a neighbor.  Allie is listening intently...apprehensively.  She has nowhere to run and hide...but it also doesn't sound as close as it used to at the old place.  She hasn't moved.  The dryer has stopped so it's time for me to go fold and hang laundry.  Love my new washer and dryer!  Till next week, my friends.  Choose joy!!  Relentlessly!!  :)